Breakdown of Staden grundades för hundra år sedan.
staden
the city
året
the year
hundra
a hundred
för ... sedan
ago (in 'för ... sedan')
Questions & Answers about Staden grundades för hundra år sedan.
How do we build the past tense passive in grundades?
This is the s-passive form of grunda (to found). To make it passive in the past tense, you simply take the active past tense form grundade and add an -s to the end, giving us grundades (was founded).
Could I say blev grundad instead of grundades?
Yes, staden blev grundad also means the city was founded. However, the s-passive (grundades) is extremely common in written Swedish and often sounds a bit more formal or historical, which fits perfectly for this sentence.
How does the phrase för ... sedan work here?
This is the standard Swedish way to express ago. Instead of a single word, Swedish frames the amount of time with för at the start and sedan at the end. You just put the time right in the middle, creating för hundra år sedan (a hundred years ago).
Why doesn't år have a plural ending after hundra?
Because år is an ett-word that ends in a consonant (ett år). In Swedish, these words do not change their spelling in the indefinite plural. That is why one year is ett år and a hundred years is hundra år.