Word
Ställ stolarna i rätt rad så att alla hittar sin sittplats.
Meaning
Put the chairs in the correct row so that everyone finds their seat.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Ställ stolarna i rätt rad så att alla hittar sin sittplats.
hitta
to find
i
in
stolen
the chair
alla
all
Questions & Answers about Ställ stolarna i rätt rad så att alla hittar sin sittplats.
How does så att work in this sentence?
The phrase så att means 'so that' and is used to introduce a subordinate clause that shows the result or purpose of an action. Because it starts a subordinate clause, remember the 'BIFF' rule: if you want to use a sentence adverb like inte (not) or alltid (always), it must go before the verb. For example: så att alla inte går vilse (so that everyone doesn't get lost).
Why is it sin sittplats instead of sina sittplatser or deras sittplats?
Alla (everyone) is the subject here. Because they are finding their own seats, we must use a reflexive possessive pronoun (sin, sitt, or sina) rather than deras, which would mean they are looking for someone else's seats. We use the singular en-word sin because each person is finding one seat (en sittplats). If you used sina, it would imply each individual person is looking for multiple seats!
Why use ställ to say 'put' instead of lägg or sätt?
Swedish positional verbs are very literal about how an object rests. Ställa means to stand something up on its base or legs. Because chairs have legs and stand upright on the floor, you must use ställ. You would use lägga for laying things down flat, and sätta for seating people or placing things that attach firmly.