Breakdown of Är det målvakten som är skadad?
vara
to be
det
it (neuter)
skadad
injured
som
who / which / that (relative pronoun)
Questions & Answers about Är det målvakten som är skadad?
What is the difference between saying Är målvakten skadad? and Är det målvakten som är skadad?
Är målvakten skadad? just asks a basic question: "Is the goalkeeper injured?" By using the cleft structure (Är det... som...), you add emphasis to who is injured. It translates to "Is it the goalkeeper who is injured?" This implies you already know someone is injured, but you want to clarify if it is the goalkeeper rather than another player.
How do we form a question using this cleft sentence structure?
In a standard cleft statement, you start with Det är (It is), for example: Det är målvakten som är skadad. To turn this into a yes/no question, you simply swap the first verb and the subject pronoun, just like in any basic Swedish question. Therefore, Det är becomes Är det.
Why is the word for injured spelled skadad here instead of skadat or skadade?
Skadad is a past participle acting as an adjective, which means it must agree with the noun it describes. Because målvakten is a singular en-word, it takes the standard form ending in -d. If the subject were an ett-word, it would be skadat, and if it were plural, it would be skadade.
How is the word målvakten built?