Word
Krukväxten står på soffbordet, där den får vatten.
Meaning
The potted plant stands on the coffee table, where it gets water.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Krukväxten står på soffbordet, där den får vatten.
den
it (common)
vattnet
the water
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
där
where (relative)
Questions & Answers about Krukväxten står på soffbordet, där den får vatten.
Why do we use står here instead of ställer?
Står (stands) is an intransitive verb, meaning the subject is just doing the action on its own without affecting a direct object. The plant is simply resting there. If someone were actively putting the plant on the table, you would use the transitive verb ställer (places/stands), as in Jag ställer krukväxten på soffbordet.
How is the compound word Krukväxten formed?
It is made from kruka (pot) and växten (the plant). Notice that the final -a in kruka is dropped when forming the compound. Dropping the ending vowel of the first word is a very common pattern in Swedish compound nouns.
Why is "it" translated as den instead of det in this sentence?
The pronoun has to match the gender of the noun it refers back to. Because växt is an en-word (en växt), "it" becomes den. If the pronoun referred back to the coffee table (ett soffbord), we would use det.
Why do we use där for "where" instead of var?
In Swedish, var is strictly a question word (e.g., Var står växten?). When "where" is used as a linking word to describe a location in a statement (a relative adverb), you must use där, which otherwise translates to "there".