Breakdown of Stearinljuset brinner hela kvällen på soffbordet.
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
kvällen
the evening
hel
whole
brinna
to burn
soffbordet
the coffee table
stearinljuset
the candle
Questions & Answers about Stearinljuset brinner hela kvällen på soffbordet.
Why does this sentence use brinner instead of bränner?
brinner is an intransitive verb, meaning the subject is doing the action itself without affecting an object. Here, the candle is just burning. You use bränner (the transitive version) when someone is burning something else, like a piece of wood. Notice they conjugate differently: brinner is a strong verb (brinner, brann, brunnit), while bränner is a regular weak verb (bränner, brände, bränt).
Why is the word for candle stearinljuset rather than just ljuset?
The word ljus can mean both 'light' and 'candle'. To be perfectly clear that it is a physical candle, Swedes often add the material it is usually made of, creating stearinljus (stearin wax candle). Both words are common, but stearinljuset leaves no doubt about what is burning.
Why isn't there a preposition before hela kvällen to mean 'for the whole evening'?
In Swedish, you don't need a preposition to show duration when using hela (whole or all). You simply use hela plus the definite form of the noun, like hela kvällen (all evening) or hela dagen (all day). Adding a word for 'for' would sound unnatural here.
Why does soffa (sofa) change to soff- in the word soffbordet?
soffbordet (the coffee table) is a compound noun made of soffa and bordet. When Swedish links two nouns to form a new word, the first word often drops its final vowel if it ends in '-a'. This makes the compound flow better when spoken.
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