Word
Var de kriminella beväpnade?
Meaning
Were the criminals armed?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Var de kriminella beväpnade?
vara
to be
de
the (plural, before adjective)
beväpnad
armed
kriminell
criminal
Questions & Answers about Var de kriminella beväpnade?
How do we know de kriminella means the criminals as a noun?
In Swedish, you can turn an adjective like kriminell into a noun to describe a group of people. By placing the plural article de in front of it and adding the plural -a ending, de kriminella becomes a stand-alone noun phrase meaning the criminals.
How would I change this sentence to ask about just one criminal?
You would use the singular article den, making the subject den kriminella. Because the subject is now singular, the participle beväpnade must drop its plural ending to match. The full sentence becomes: Var den kriminella beväpnad?
Why does the word beväpnade end in -e?
Beväpnade is a past participle used as an adjective, coming from the verb beväpna (to arm). Because the subject de kriminella is plural, this describing word must agree with it. The singular form is beväpnad, and we add -e to form the plural beväpnade.
Is de pronounced the way it is spelled in this sentence?
As a quick refresher, the word de is almost always pronounced as dom in everyday spoken Swedish, even when used as an article before an adjective like it is here.