Questions & Answers about Isen i frysen började smälta.
Why is there no att (to) before smälta?
While you can perfectly well say började att smälta, it is very common in Swedish to drop the word att after verbs like börja (to start), sluta (to stop), and bruka (to usually do). Saying började smälta sounds more natural and flows better in everyday speech.
Why do we use the definite forms isen and frysen here?
Just like in English, we are talking about specific things in a known context: 'the' ice in 'the' freezer. Swedish attaches the definite article as the suffix -en to both is (ice) and frys (freezer) to show this specificity.
Is smälta a regular or irregular verb?
It can be both! When ice melts on its own, it historically follows an irregular pattern (smälta, smälter, smalt, smultit). However, in modern Swedish, it is completely acceptable and very common to use regular endings (smälte, har smält) instead. Since it directly follows började here, we only need the infinitive form smälta.
What is the difference between a frys and a kyl?
A frys is a freezer, where things are kept below freezing. A kyl (short for kylskåp) is a refrigerator, which just keeps food cold. If you put isen in the kyl, it will definitely start to smälta!
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