Breakdown of Ett mindre antal gäster saknades.
ett
a, an (neuter)
gästen
the guest
liten
small
saknas
to be missing
antalet
the number (quantity, amount)
Questions & Answers about Ett mindre antal gäster saknades.
Why use mindre (smaller) if we aren't comparing the number of guests to anything?
This is an example of the absolute comparative. In Swedish, comparative adjectives are often used to mean "fairly," "rather," or "-ish" without making a direct comparison. Here, ett mindre antal simply means "a small number" or "a smallish number," rather than strictly "a smaller number than before."
Why is there no word for "of" between antal and gäster?
In Swedish, quantity words like ett antal (a number), en grupp (a group), or en kopp (a cup) are placed directly next to the noun they quantify. You don't use a preposition like av (of) in these phrases. Therefore, "a number of guests" is simply ett antal gäster.
Why does the verb saknades end in -s?
The -s makes the verb passive. The active verb sakna means "to miss" or "to lack" (e.g., "I miss my dog"). Adding the passive -s changes the focus to the thing being missed. So, saknas means "is missing," and the past tense saknades means "was/were missing."
Since antal is an ett word, shouldn't the adjective mindre get a special neuter ending?
No, because mindre is a comparative adjective. In Swedish, adjectives in their comparative form (usually ending in -are or -re, like mindre) are fixed. They never change their endings to match the gender (en or ett) or number (singular or plural) of the noun.
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