Breakdown of Den gamla fästningen grundades av kungen.
gammal
old
den
the (with en-words)
av
of, by / from (cause)
kungen
the king
grunda
to found
fästningen
the fortress
Questions & Answers about Den gamla fästningen grundades av kungen.
How is the past tense passive formed in grundades?
The verb grunda (to found) is a regular Group 1 verb, so its active simple past tense is grundade (founded). To make it passive ("was founded"), you simply add an -s to the end of that past tense form, resulting in grundades. This -s suffix is the most common way to create the passive voice in Swedish.
What word is used for "by" in Swedish passive sentences?
We use the preposition av. While av can mean "of" or "off" in other contexts, in passive sentences it always introduces the agent—the person or thing actually performing the action. So, av kungen means "by the king".
Why is the word for "old" spelled gamla here instead of gammal?
Because the phrase is definite ("The old..."), the adjective must take its definite form, which usually ends in -a. The base word gammal is slightly irregular: when you add the -a ending, it drops the second 'm' and the 'a' in the middle, becoming gamla.
Why does fästningen have an -en at the end if we already used Den at the beginning?
This is a great reminder of the Swedish "double definite" rule! When a definite noun is described by an adjective, you must use the standalone article (Den), the definite adjective ending (gamla), and the definite noun suffix (-en on fästning). You have to mark it as definite on both ends of the phrase.
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