Breakdown of Tror du att de kan överleva, trots att det är trettio grader kallt?
vara
to be
du
you (singular)
det
it (neuter)
de
they
kall
cold
tro
to believe
kunna
to be able to, can
trettio
thirty
att
that
trots att
although, in spite of the fact that
överleva
to survive
graden
the degree
Questions & Answers about Tror du att de kan överleva, trots att det är trettio grader kallt?
The lesson is about trots att. How is it different from just using trots?
Trots by itself is a preposition meaning "despite", so it must be followed by a noun, like trots kylan (despite the cold). Because we want to use a whole phrase with a subject and a verb (det är), we must add att to make it a conjunction (trots att) that can introduce a subordinate clause.
Both att and trots att introduce subordinate clauses here. Does that change the word order?
Yes, they follow the subordinate clause rule where a sentence adverb like inte would come before the verb. In this exact sentence, there are no adverbs, so the word order happens to look just like a main clause. But if you wanted to say "despite that it is NOT thirty degrees", it would be trots att det inte är trettio grader.
Is trettio grader kallt the standard way to say "minus thirty degrees" in Swedish?
Yes! You can definitely say minus trettio grader, but adding kallt (cold) or varmt (warm) right after the temperature is a very common and natural way to describe the weather. It literally translates to "thirty degrees cold."
Why does kallt end in a 't' here instead of just being kall?
It matches the "dummy" subject det (it) from the start of the clause (det är trettio grader kallt). Whenever we talk about the weather generally using det är, the adjective describes the neuter word det and must take the neuter -t ending.
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