Questions & Answers about Lars förnekade att han överdrev berättelsen.
Why is överdrev in the past tense if he was denying an action happening at that moment?
This is an example of backshifting in indirect speech. Lars's original words were likely in the present tense, meaning I am not exaggerating (Jag överdriver inte). Because the main reporting verb förnekade (denied) is in the past tense, the verb in the att clause must also step back into the past tense, becoming överdrev.
What is the infinitive form of överdrev, and is it a regular verb?
The infinitive is överdriva (to exaggerate). It is an irregular verb that follows the exact same pattern as its root verb driva (to drive or drift). The forms to memorize are överdriva, överdriver, överdrev, and har överdrivit.
How is the noun berättelsen related to the verb berätta?
The suffix -else is frequently used in Swedish to turn verbs into nouns. From the verb berätta (to tell or narrate), we get the base noun berättelse (a story or tale). The -n at the end simply makes it the definite form: berättelsen (the story).
If we wanted to say Lars denied that he 'never' exaggerated the story, where would the word aldrig go?