Questions & Answers about Varför är de alltid så avundsjuka på oss?
Why do we use på here instead of av if the English translation is "jealous of"?
Adjectives in Swedish often pair with specific prepositions that do not match English perfectly. The phrase for "jealous of" is always avundsjuk på. You just have to learn these combinations by heart!
Why is it avundsjuka with an -a at the end?
Because it is describing de (they), which is plural. In Swedish, adjectives must match the noun or pronoun they describe, so avundsjuk gets the plural -a ending.
Why does the adverb alltid come after de?
Swedish uses V2 (verb-second) word order. In this question, position 1 is Varför and position 2 is the verb är. The subject de follows the verb, and sentence adverbs like alltid come right after the subject.
How should I pronounce de in this sentence?
Even though it is spelled de, it is almost always pronounced as dom in everyday spoken Swedish.