Breakdown of Kakan var förstörd, så vi var tvungna att slänga den.
vara
to be
vi
we
den
it (common)
kakan
the cake
så
so
förstörd
destroyed
vara tvungen att
to have to
slänga
to throw away (casual, to toss)
Questions & Answers about Kakan var förstörd, så vi var tvungna att slänga den.
Why is it tvungna and not tvungen here?
The phrase var tvungen att acts like an adjective in Swedish, meaning it has to match the subject. Since the subject here is vi (we), which is plural, tvungen changes to its plural form tvungna. If the subject was just one person, it would remain var tvungen att.
Does slänga mean "throw" or "throw away"?
Both! While slänga literally means to throw, in everyday Swedish it is the most common word for trashing something. You do not need to add a word for "away" here, though slänga bort is also completely natural.
Why is the word for ruined spelled förstörd instead of förstört?
Förstörd describes kakan (the cake). Since kaka is an en-word, the descriptive word takes the basic en-form. If we were talking about an ett-word, like huset (the house), it would be Huset var förstört.
Why does the sentence end with den instead of det for "it"?
The word den refers back to kakan. Because kaka is an en-word, you must use den to say "it". If you were throwing away an ett-word like äpplet (the apple), you would end the sentence with det.
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