Breakdown of Skandalen handlar om den där kärleksaffären.
den där
that (en)
handla om
to be about
skandalen
the scandal
kärleksaffären
the love affair
Questions & Answers about Skandalen handlar om den där kärleksaffären.
How would we use lär here to say "The scandal is said to be about that love affair"?
You would insert lär in the second position as the modal verb and change handlar to its infinitive form, handla. The sentence becomes: Skandalen lär handla om den där kärleksaffären.
Why do we use handlar om here instead of translating "is about" literally as är om?
In Swedish, handlar om is the standard and natural way to say that a book, movie, conversation, or situation (like a scandal) "is about" a topic. Translating it literally as är om sounds very unnatural to native speakers.
The English translation says "that love affair." Why does Swedish use the definite form kärleksaffären (the love affair) here?
Whenever you use the demonstrative pronouns den där (that) or den här (this), Swedish grammar requires the following noun to take the definite form. You are essentially saying "that the love affair."
Why is there an -s- in the middle of kärleksaffären?
It is a joining -s- used to glue two words together in a compound noun: kärlek (love) + s + affär (affair). This is very common in Swedish, acting a bit like a possessive to smoothly connect the two concepts.