Breakdown of De vill köpa två likadana nyckelringar till barnen.
barnet
the child
de
they
köpa
to buy
vilja
to want to
Questions & Answers about De vill köpa två likadana nyckelringar till barnen.
Why do we use likadana here instead of likadan or likadant?
likadana is the plural form. Because they are buying two keychains (två nyckelringar), the word describing them must match the plural noun. You would use likadan for a singular en-word and likadant for a singular ett-word.
Why does the sentence use till barnen for the children instead of för barnen?
In Swedish, when someone is the direct recipient of a gift or an object, you use till. You can think of it as buying the keychains to the children. The word för is used more for doing a favor on behalf of someone else.
Why is the definite plural for the children written as barnen? Doesn't the plural usually have an -ar or -er?
The word barn is an ett-word ending in a consonant (ett barn). These types of words don't change in their basic plural form, so two children is just två barn. To make it definite (the children), you simply add -en to the plural, giving you barnen.
I see nyckelringar is written as one word. Is this how Swedish handles combinations like key ring?
Yes! nyckelringar is a compound noun made from nyckel (key) and ringar (rings). While English often puts a space between nouns, Swedish almost always joins them into a single word.