Breakdown of De hade en längre diskussion om en större summa pengar.
en
a, an (common)
de
they
stor
big
ha
to have
Questions & Answers about De hade en längre diskussion om en större summa pengar.
Why use the comparative forms längre and större when there is no direct comparison being made?
This is called the absolute comparative. In Swedish, you can use the comparative form of an adjective to mean "rather", "fairly", or "quite". So en längre diskussion means a fairly long discussion, and en större summa means a rather large sum, without directly comparing them to a specific alternative.
Is en längre diskussion longer than en lång diskussion?
Actually, it is usually the opposite! Because längre is used here as an absolute comparative, it implies a more moderate duration than the base adjective lång (long). It softens the statement, meaning it was a "fairly long" discussion, but not quite a "long" one.
Why is it en summa pengar and not "en summa av pengar" for "a sum of money"?
In Swedish, when you talk about quantities, containers, or amounts followed by what they consist of, you usually just place the two nouns right next to each other without a preposition. Just like you say en kopp kaffe (a cup of coffee), you say en summa pengar (a sum of money) without translating the word "of".
Do I need to change the endings of längre and större if they describe an ett-word or a plural noun instead?