Breakdown of Föredrar du den vita spisen eller den rostfria?
du
you (singular)
vit
white
eller
or
den
the (with en-words)
föredra
to prefer
spisen
the stove
rostfri
stainless
Questions & Answers about Föredrar du den vita spisen eller den rostfria?
How do you translate the word 'one' in 'the stainless one'?
In Swedish, you don't use a separate word for 'one' here. You just leave the definite article and the adjective standing alone. So, den rostfria literally translates to 'the stainless', but it means 'the stainless one'. You can drop the noun because spisen (the stove) was just mentioned and is clearly understood.
Why do vita and rostfria end in -a if we are talking about a single stove?
The -a ending isn't just for plurals; it is also used for the definite form of adjectives. Because we are using the definite article den ('the'), the adjectives vit and rostfri must take their definite -a endings, becoming vita and rostfria.
Why is it den vita spisen instead of just den vita spis?
Swedish uses a rule often called 'double definiteness' when a definite noun has an adjective describing it. You need both the standalone definite article (den) before the adjective and the definite suffix (-en) attached to the noun (spisen).
How does the word rostfria literally translate to 'stainless'?
Rostfria is made up of rost ('rust') and fri ('free'). So a 'stainless' appliance or 'stainless steel' is literally called 'rust-free' in Swedish.
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