Questions & Answers about Den okände var beväpnad.
Why does okände end in an -e here instead of -a?
The ending -e is the masculine definite form of the adjective okänd (unknown). When an adjective is used as a noun to refer to a person, Swedish often uses the -e ending to specifically indicate a male. If it were a woman, or a person of unspecified gender, it would be den okända.
The English translation says 'The unknown man', but where is the Swedish word for man?
It is built right into den okände. This is called substantivation: using an adjective as a noun. Instead of saying den okände mannen, Swedish drops the noun entirely. The masculine -e ending on the adjective is enough to tell us that the unknown person is a man.
Why isn't beväpnad also in a definite form to match den okände?
Because beväpnad comes after the verb var (was). Adjectives in this position just describe the subject, so they only need to match its gender and number. Since den okände is grammatically a singular en-word, beväpnad stays in its basic singular form.
How is beväpnad related to the Swedish word for weapon?
The root noun is vapen (weapon). By adding the prefix be- and changing the vowel to ä, we get the verb beväpna (to arm). Beväpnad is the past participle of that verb, which works just like the adjective armed in English.
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