Breakdown of Den gamla laddaren är lite långsammare.
vara
to be
långsam
slow
gammal
old
den
the (with en-words)
lite
a little, a bit
laddaren
the charger
Questions & Answers about Den gamla laddaren är lite långsammare.
How does lite work together with långsammare in this sentence?
In Swedish, you can adjust the strength of a comparative adjective (like långsammare, meaning slower) using words like lite (a little), mycket (much), or ännu (even). Here, lite långsammare simply means 'a little slower'. If you wanted to say it was much slower, you would swap it out for mycket långsammare.
Why is the adjective gamla instead of gammal?
Because the noun is in the definite form (the old charger). When you have a specific, definite noun, the adjective must also take its definite form, which usually ends in -a. So gammal (old) becomes gamla. Notice that gammal also drops the second 'm' and the 'a' in its root when adding the -a ending!
Why does this sentence use both Den and the ending -en on laddaren?
This is a great time to review the Swedish 'double definite' rule. When a definite noun (like laddaren, meaning the charger) has an adjective in front of it (like gamla), you must also add a standalone definite article before the adjective. For an en-word, that front article is Den.
Why does långsammare have a double 'm' when the base word is långsam?
Adjectives that end in the suffix -sam (like långsam, meaning slow, or ensam, meaning alone) always double the m when you add an ending that starts with a vowel. Since the comparative ending is -are, the m is doubled to make långsammare.
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