Breakdown of Både takten och leendet måste vara identiska.
vara
to be
och
and
måste
to have to, must
både
both
leendet
the smile
identisk
identical (exactly the same)
takten
the rhythm
Questions & Answers about Både takten och leendet måste vara identiska.
Why does identiska end in -a?
Even though takten is an en-word and leendet is an ett-word, together they form a plural subject because there are two items. Whenever an adjective describes a plural subject, even after the verb vara (to be), it must take the plural -a ending.
This lesson is about samma. Could we express this idea using samma instead of identiska?
Yes! While this sentence uses the plural adjective identiska (identical) to describe the subjects directly, you could express a similar idea using samma + noun. For example, you could rephrase it to focus on the person or thing doing the action: De måste ha samma takt och leende (They must have the same rhythm and smile).
What is the indefinite form of leendet?
The base word is ett leende (a smile), which comes from the verb att le (to smile). Because this ett-word already ends in a vowel, we just add a -t to the end to make it definite, giving us leendet (the smile).
How does the både ... och structure work here?
The words både (both) and och (and) work as a pair to group two subjects together, exactly like they do in English. When you use både, you almost always follow it up with och before the second item in the list.
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