Breakdown of Rådhuset renoverades eftersom det var mycket gammalt.
vara
to be
det
it (neuter)
mycket
much / very
gammal
old
Questions & Answers about Rådhuset renoverades eftersom det var mycket gammalt.
How do we form the passive past tense in renoverades?
The base verb is renovera (to renovate). In the simple past tense, it becomes renoverade. To make it passive (meaning "was renovated"), you simply add an -s to the end, giving us renoverades.
Why does the adjective gammalt end with a -t here?
It has to match the grammatical gender of the noun it describes. Rådhuset is an ett word (ett rådhus). Because of this, the pronoun referring back to it is det, and the adjective must take the -t ending to become gammalt.
Is there a difference between ett rådhus and ett stadshus?
Both generally translate to "town hall" or "city hall." However, rådhus is a historical term often referring to an older, classic building where the town court and council historically sat. A stadshus usually refers to the modern administrative center of a Swedish municipality.
Eftersom starts a subordinate clause. If we wanted to make this negative, where would inte go?
In a subordinate clause, sentence adverbs like inte must come before the first verb. So, if the town hall was not very old, the word order changes to: ...eftersom det inte var mycket gammalt.