Breakdown of Författaren är känd för att skriva om historia.
vara
to be
att
to
skriva
to write
författaren
the author
om
about
historien
the history
känd för
known for
Questions & Answers about Författaren är känd för att skriva om historia.
Why doesn't historia have an article here, since Swedish often uses definite articles for general concepts?
This lesson focuses on mass nouns (uncountable nouns) in general statements. While Swedish often uses the definite form for general, abstract concepts (like Kärleken är blind - Love is blind), it drops the article for mass nouns used generally, just like English does. Because historia is treated as a general, uncountable concept here, it takes the zero article and stays as historia.
Why is it för att skriva instead of a Swedish translation for the "-ing" word "writing"?
English often uses a preposition followed by an "-ing" verb (a gerund), like "known for writing". Swedish doesn't use verbs this way after prepositions. Instead, you use the preposition + att (to) + the infinitive verb. So, "for writing" translates literally to Swedish as för att skriva ("for to write").
Since känd means "known", does it change depending on who or what is known?
Yes! Känd acts as an adjective describing the subject. Because författaren is an en word, it takes the standard form känd. If you were talking about a band (an ett word), it would be Bandet är känt. If it were plural, it would be Författarna är kända.
How does the word författare (author) become författaren in the definite form?
For en words that end in -are (which are very often professions, like läkare or lärare), you make them definite by simply adding an -n to the end. You don't add the full -en suffix because the word already ends in a vowel. Therefore, en författare becomes författaren.
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