Breakdown of Vi krävde en större summa, men de vägrade.
vi
we
en
a, an (common)
de
they
stor
big
men
but
vägra
to refuse
kräva
to require
summan
the sum
Questions & Answers about Vi krävde en större summa, men de vägrade.
Since this lesson is about the absolute comparative, does större here mean 'larger than something else' or 'rather large'?
It can actually be both, depending on the exact context! In Swedish, the absolute comparative uses the comparative form (större) to describe a "rather large" or "fairly big" amount, without directly comparing it to a specific smaller sum. While the English translation uses "larger", the Swedish phrase en större summa is the standard way to express a "substantial sum".
Why is the past tense of kräva (to demand) krävde instead of krävade?
Kräva belongs to verb Group 2. Its stem (kräv-) ends in a voiced consonant (v), so it takes the suffix -de in the past tense, making it krävde. If it were a Group 1 verb, it would take -ade, but Group 2 verbs only add -de or -te.
Why is the word order de vägrade after the comma? Doesn't the verb have to come first?
The V2 (verb-second) rule applies within a single clause. Here, we have two separate main clauses connected by the coordinating conjunction men (but). Because men simply links two independent sentences together, the second clause starts fresh with its own subject (de) in the first position, followed normally by its verb (vägrade).
Just a quick refresher: do we pronounce de as it is spelled here?
No, as you might remember from earlier levels, in nearly all everyday spoken Swedish, the subject pronoun de (they) is pronounced as dom.
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