Breakdown of Är bron av betong eller stål?
vara
to be
eller
or
av
of, by / from (cause)
bron
the bridge
stålet
the steel
betongen
the concrete
Questions & Answers about Är bron av betong eller stål?
Why is there no word for 'made' in this sentence?
In Swedish, you can often skip the word for 'made' (gjord) when describing what something consists of. Using av directly before a material, like av betong, naturally translates to 'made of concrete'.
Could I say 'Är bron gjord av betong eller stål?' instead?
Yes, adding gjord (made) is grammatically correct and means the same thing. However, dropping it and just using av is very common and sounds perfectly natural in everyday Swedish.
Why is the word for 'the bridge' bron instead of 'broen'?
The base word is en bro (a bridge). For en-words that already end in a vowel, you usually just add -n to make it definite, rather than the full -en. Therefore, it becomes bron.
Do the materials betong and stål need to match the gender of bron?
No. Betong and stål are nouns representing materials, not adjectives, so they do not change form to match the gender of the subject bron. You are simply linking nouns using the preposition av.
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