Breakdown of Frun lär veta allt om kärleksaffären.
veta
to know (facts, information)
allt
everything / all (neuter)
frun
the wife
om
about
lär
is said to / is likely to
kärleksaffären
the love affair
Questions & Answers about Frun lär veta allt om kärleksaffären.
Why does lär translate to reportedly here? I thought it meant teaches or learns.
As a regular verb, lär means teaches (or learns if combined with sig). But here it is a modal verb expressing hearsay or high probability. You can tell it is acting as a modal verb because it is followed directly by the infinitive verb veta.
How do I know if lär means reportedly or probably in this sentence?
It depends entirely on context! Both are possible, so this could also mean the wife probably knows everything. However, when talking about gossip like a love affair, the hearsay meaning fits perfectly.
Why is the verb veta in the infinitive instead of the present tense vet?
Because it follows the modal verb lär. Just like other modal verbs such as kan or vill, lär is followed directly by the infinitive form of the main verb, skipping the word att.
Why is there an s in the middle of kärleksaffären?
It is a compound word built from kärlek (love) and affären (the affair). The extra s is a linking letter used frequently in Swedish to glue two nouns together smoothly into a single word.
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