Breakdown of De sänkte priset på huset innan de började möblera.
de
they
huset
the house
börja
to start
innan
before
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
priset
the price
sänka
to lower
möblera
to arrange furniture
Questions & Answers about De sänkte priset på huset innan de började möblera.
Why is the verb sänkte used here instead of sjönk?
Sjönk (past tense of the strong verb sjunka) is intransitive, meaning something decreases or sinks on its own. Sänkte (past tense of the weak verb sänka) is transitive, meaning someone actively lowers a direct object. Because "they" are actively lowering "the price", we need sänka. This is a classic pair where the intransitive verb has a strong conjugation with a deep vowel, while the transitive version takes a mutated vowel (ä) and a regular weak ending (-te).
Why do we say priset på huset instead of translating "of" directly?
In Swedish, på is the standard preposition for "of" when talking about the price, name, or specific part of an object (like the lid of a jar). Translating "of" directly as av would sound unnatural here.
Shouldn't there be an att (to) before the infinitive möblera?
It is grammatically correct to say började att möblera, but Swedes very often drop the infinitive marker att after the verbs börja (to start) and sluta (to stop) in everyday speech and writing.
How is the verb möblera formed?
It is built directly from the noun möbel (a piece of furniture). The -era suffix is a very common way to turn nouns, especially borrowed words, into verbs in Swedish.
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