Breakdown of Vi har inte träffats på flera årtionden.
vi
we
inte
not
ha
to have
flera
several
träffas
to meet each other
på
in/within (a period of time)
årtiondet
the decade
Questions & Answers about Vi har inte träffats på flera årtionden.
Why do we use på here instead of i to express duration?
This is a special rule for time expressions! When you state how long an action has been happening in a positive sentence, you usually use i (for example, "we have been waiting for hours" would use i flera timmar). However, because this is a negative sentence (vi har inte), you must use på to express the duration of the time that hasn't seen the action.
Why does the verb träffats end in -s?
The -s makes this a reciprocal verb, meaning the action happens between two or more people doing it to "each other". The active verb att träffa means "to meet [someone]", but adding the -s creates att träffas, which means "to meet each other". Therefore, vi har inte träffats means "we haven't met [each other]".
How is the word årtionden formed?
It is a compound word made of år (year) and tionde (tenth). So ett årtionde literally translates to a "year-tenth", meaning a decade. Since it is an ett word that ends in a vowel, it takes an -n to form the plural årtionden.
Could we say Vi har träffats inte på flera årtionden?
No, that would be incorrect word order. In a standard Swedish main clause, adverbs like inte must be placed immediately after the first, conjugated verb. Here, har is the first verb, so inte must step in between har and the second verb, träffats.
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