Breakdown of Både chefen och forskaren har noterat att budgeten minskat.
och
and
ha
to have
chefen
the boss
att
that
både
both
forskaren
the researcher
minska
to reduce
budgeten
the budget
notera
to note
Questions & Answers about Både chefen och forskaren har noterat att budgeten minskat.
Why is there no har before minskat?
This is an example of dropping the auxiliary verb, which is very common in Swedish. In a subordinate clause (here, the part starting with att), you are allowed to drop har or hade. So att budgeten minskat means exactly the same as att budgeten har minskat.
Can we also drop the first har and just say Både chefen och forskaren noterat?
No, you cannot drop the har there. The rule for dropping har or hade only applies to subordinate clauses. The first part of the sentence is the main clause, so it must keep its auxiliary verb to be grammatically correct.
Since har is missing, how do we know the end of the sentence means "has decreased" instead of just "decreased"?
The verb minskat is in the supine form. In Swedish, you only use the supine form together with har or hade. Even when the auxiliary verb is dropped, the main verb stays in the supine form, which signals to the reader that a har or hade is invisibly there. If it were the simple past tense ("decreased"), it would be minskade.
Is både always paired with och in sentences like this?
Yes, både [X] och [Y] is a fixed pairing that means "both [X] and [Y]". It is a very common structure to memorize for emphasizing that two different subjects or objects are equally involved.
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