Breakdown of Publiken flydde skrikande i paniken.
i
in
publiken
the audience
skrika
to scream
fly
to flee
paniken
the panic
Questions & Answers about Publiken flydde skrikande i paniken.
Why does skrikande end in -ande, and how does it work in this sentence?
It is the present participle of the verb skrika (to scream). In this sentence, it acts as an adverb of manner, meaning it describes exactly how the audience fled (they fled "screaming"). To form this for most verbs, you just add -ande to the infinitive. When used like this, the word never changes form, regardless of who or what is doing the action.
Since an audience is made up of many people, why is publiken in the singular form?
Like "audience" or "crowd" in English, publik is a collective noun. It refers to a group of people but is grammatically treated as a single unit (a singular en-word). That is why it takes the singular definite suffix -en to become publiken.
What is the infinitive of flydde, and why does its past tense end in -dde?
The infinitive is fly (to flee or to escape). Short verbs that end in a stressed vowel other than -a belong to a specific verb group that forms the past tense by adding -dde. This is why fly becomes flydde, similar to how bo (to live) becomes bodde.
Why does the sentence use the definite form paniken (the panic) rather than just saying i panik (in panic)?
Swedish often uses the definite form to point to a specific, ongoing event rather than a general concept. While i panik (in panic) is a very common phrase to describe a state of mind, saying i paniken frames the panic as a specific chaotic event or environment that the audience was running around in.
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