Breakdown of De flesta studenter köper begagnade böcker på nätet.
boken
the book
köpa
to buy
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
studenten
the student
de flesta
most (countable)
nätet
the net
begagnad
used
Questions & Answers about De flesta studenter köper begagnade böcker på nätet.
Why is it studenter (indefinite) after De flesta when De is a definite article?
This is the special rule for de flesta (most)! Even though de normally points to a definite noun, the phrase de flesta requires the noun to be in its indefinite plural form when talking about a general group. So, de flesta studenter translates to "most students".
Why does the word begagnade end in -ade?
The base adjective is begagnad, which means "used" or "second-hand". When a Swedish word acting as an adjective ends in -ad, its plural form adds an -e at the end rather than the usual -a. Since it describes the plural noun böcker (books), begagnad becomes begagnade.
Is på nätet the standard way to say "on the internet"?
Yes! Nätet literally means "the net". While you can completely safely say på internet, Swedes use på nätet as the most common, everyday way to talk about doing things online. Notice that it uses the preposition på (on), matching English.
How does the V2 (verb-second) rule work here if köper is the fourth word in the sentence?
The V2 rule requires the verb to be in the second position of the sentence, not necessarily the second word. The entire phrase De flesta studenter acts as one single grammatical block (the subject) taking up the first position. Because of this, the verb köper is exactly where it belongs in position two.
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