Breakdown of Vi ser inte vad andevärlden gömmer bakom den stängda dörren.
vi
we
inte
not
vad
what
se
to see
dörren
the door
den
the (with en-words)
bakom
behind
stängd
closed
gömma
to hide
andevärlden
the spirit world
Questions & Answers about Vi ser inte vad andevärlden gömmer bakom den stängda dörren.
Why do we use vad here instead of som?
In this sentence, vad means "what" or "that which". It is an independent relative pronoun, meaning it doesn't refer back to a specific noun that came before it in the sentence. If the sentence had included a specific noun, like "the thing that", you would use som instead (for example, saken som andevärlden gömmer).
Does the word order change in the second half of the sentence?
Yes. Because vad introduces a subordinate clause, it triggers subordinate clause word order. The subject (andevärlden) comes first, followed by the verb (gömmer). If you wanted to put a sentence adverb like inte or alltid into this second part, it would be forced to go before the verb (for example, vad andevärlden inte gömmer).
Why is "the closed door" translated as den stängda dörren?
This uses the Swedish "double definite" structure. When a definite noun (dörren) has an adjective describing it, you must also add the freestanding definite article den (or det / de) and add an -a to the end of the adjective. Here, the adjective is stängda, which is the past participle of the verb stänga (to close).
How is the word andevärlden constructed?
It is a compound noun created by joining ande (spirit or ghost) and världen (the world). In Swedish, compound words are almost always written together as one single word without any spaces.
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