Breakdown of Var är taxin nu, och vart ska den?
vara
to be
den
it (common)
och
and
nu
now
var
where
ska
will
vart
where (to)
taxin
the taxi
Questions & Answers about Var är taxin nu, och vart ska den?
Why does the first half use var and the second half use vart?
This sentence perfectly shows the difference between location and direction. Var means "where at" (position), so it is used with är to ask where the taxi is located right now. Vart means "where to" (direction), so it is used to ask about the destination.
Why is there no verb for "going" after ska?
In Swedish, verbs of motion like åka (go/travel) or gå (walk/go) are often dropped after helping verbs like ska or vill when the destination is obvious. Since vart already implies movement to a destination, vart ska den? is a complete and very natural way to ask "where is it going?".
Why is the definite form taxin instead of taxien?
Taxi is an en-word, but because it ends in a vowel, we just add an -n to make it definite ("the taxi") rather than adding the full -en ending.
Why does the sentence end with the pronoun den?
Den translates to "it" here and refers back to taxin. Because taxi is an en-word, we have to use the matching pronoun den. If we were asking about an ett-word like tåget (the train), we would use det instead.
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