Breakdown of Vad förfärligt den där osten smakar!
den där
that (en)
osten
the cheese
smaka
to taste
vad
how (in exclamations)
förfärlig
awful (terrible, dreadful)
Questions & Answers about Vad förfärligt den där osten smakar!
Why do we use Vad instead of Hur to mean 'how'?
In English, you use 'how' for exclamations like 'How awful!'. In Swedish, exclamations like this use Vad (literally 'what'). If you were to use Hur, it would sound like a genuine question asking for a measurement: Hur förfärligt smakar osten? (How awful does the cheese taste?).
Why does förfärligt end in a -t here?
It ends in a -t because it is acting as an adverb describing the verb smakar (tastes). In Swedish, you generally create an adverb by adding a -t to the adjective (similar to adding '-ly' in English). Since it describes how the cheese tastes, the base adjective förfärlig takes the neuter -t ending to become the adverb förfärligt.
Why doesn't the verb come in the second position (the V2 rule)?
Exclamatory sentences starting with Vad do not trigger the standard V2 (verb-second) rule that main clauses use. Instead, they use straight word order. This means the subject (den där osten) comes directly after the exclamation phrase, and the verb (smakar) follows the subject.
Why is it osten instead of just ost after den där?
This is a great refresher on Swedish demonstrative pronouns. Whenever you use den där (that) or den här (this), the noun that follows must be in its definite form (the 'the' form). So you have to say den där osten (literally 'that there the-cheese'), rather than just den där ost.
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