Breakdown of Forskaren förklarade varför mätningen varit försenad.
vara
to be
varför
why
förklara
to explain
forskaren
the researcher
försenad
delayed
mätningen
the measurement
Questions & Answers about Forskaren förklarade varför mätningen varit försenad.
Why is the word hade missing before varit in this sentence?
This is an example of dropping the auxiliary verb, known in Swedish as ha-bortfall. In written and formal Swedish, you can often drop har or hade in subordinate clauses. Since varför mätningen varit försenad is a subordinate clause introduced by varför, the word hade can simply be left out.
Since the auxiliary verb is dropped, how do we know if the missing word is har or hade?
You look at the time frame of the main clause. The main verb förklarade is in the past tense, meaning the explanation happened in the past. The delay happened before the explanation, so it requires the past perfect tense. This tells us the missing word must be hade (had) rather than har (has).
Why does the sentence use the supine form varit instead of the simple past tense var?
Even though the helping verb hade is removed, the remaining verb must still stay in its supine form (varit) to show it is part of a compound tense. If you used var, you would be changing the grammatical structure to a simple past tense, meaning why the measurement was delayed, rather than why it had been delayed.
Why does försenad end in -ad rather than -at or -ade?
The word försenad (delayed) is a past participle acting as an adjective, so it must agree with the noun it describes. It describes mätningen (the measurement). Because the root word en mätning is a singular en-word, the adjective takes the en-word ending -ad.
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