Breakdown of Skatten blev upptäckt under utgrävningen.
bli
to become
under
during
utgrävningen
the excavation
skatten
the treasure
upptäcka
to discover
Questions & Answers about Skatten blev upptäckt under utgrävningen.
Why does the participle upptäckt end in a "t" here, given that the subject skatten is an en-word?
In dynamic passives with blev, the past participle must agree with the subject like an adjective. For many verbs, an en-word gets a -d ending. However, upptäcka belongs to a verb group where the stem ends in a hard, voiceless consonant (like k, p, or s). For these verbs, the en-word and ett-word forms both end in -t. Because of this, it is both skatten blev upptäckt and huset blev upptäckt.
Could I use the s-passive and say Skatten upptäcktes instead?
Yes, you absolutely can! Skatten upptäcktes and Skatten blev upptäckt both mean the treasure was discovered. The blev passive is often used in everyday Swedish to emphasize the result or the suddenness of an event, while the s-passive is slightly more common in written text or when focusing purely on the action itself.
Doesn't the word under usually mean underneath?
It does when you are talking about a physical location, like being under a table. But when you use under with an event or a period of time, like utgrävningen, it translates to "during" in English.
How do you build the noun utgrävningen?
It starts with the verb att gräva, which means to dig. By combining it with ut, you get the phrasal verb att gräva ut, meaning to excavate. Adding the suffix -ning creates the noun en utgrävning for an excavation. Finally, adding -en at the end makes it the definite form.
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