Breakdown of Vi gillar att umgås eftersom vi älskar varandras skratt.
vi
we
älska
to love
att
to
eftersom
since, because
gilla
to like (everyday synonym of tycka om)
umgås
to socialize
varandras
each other's
skrattet
the laughter
Questions & Answers about Vi gillar att umgås eftersom vi älskar varandras skratt.
How does the word varandras work here, and does it change if the noun after it is plural?
Varandras means "each other's". It is formed by simply adding the possessive -s ending to the reciprocal pronoun varandra (each other). Because it acts like a name or noun in the genitive case, it never changes its form, regardless of whether the noun it owns is an en-word, an ett-word, or plural.
Why is it just skratt and not skrattet after varandras?
In Swedish, whenever a noun follows a possessive word ending in -s (like varandras, a person's name, or a specific noun like lärarens), the following noun must be in its bare, indefinite form. That is why we use skratt without the definite -et ending, even though it refers to their specific laughter.
Why does the verb umgås end in an -s? Is it passive?
No, it is not passive here. Umgås (to socialize or spend time together) is a reciprocal verb, meaning it describes an action people do together or to each other. The base infinitive form of this verb naturally ends in -s, which is why it keeps the -s after the infinitive marker att.
Eftersom starts a subordinate clause. Why doesn't the word order seem any different than a normal sentence?
Subordinate clauses (started by conjunctions like eftersom) always keep the subject before the verb, so vi älskar is the correct order. The main difference in subordinate clauses is the "BIFF rule", which says that sentence adverbs like inte or ofta must be placed before the verb. Since there is no sentence adverb in this specific clause, the word order looks exactly like a normal main clause.
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