Breakdown of Vi får inte avtalet underskrivet förrän sponsorn har läst talet.
vi
we
inte
not
läsa
to read
ha
to have
Questions & Answers about Vi får inte avtalet underskrivet förrän sponsorn har läst talet.
Why does the past participle underskrivet end in -t?
This sentence uses the "få + object + past participle" structure to mean "get something done". The past participle underskrivet (signed) acts like an adjective describing the object it applies to, which is avtalet (the contract). Because ett avtal is an ett-word, the participle must take the matching ett-form, which ends in -t.
The verb for "to sign" is skriva under. Why are the words combined here into underskrivet?
When a particle verb like skriva under is turned into a past participle to be used like an adjective, the particle (under) moves to the front and attaches as a prefix. This is a strict rule in Swedish: while you say "Vi skriver under avtalet" (We sign the contract), the descriptive participle form is always a single word: underskriven or underskrivet.
Why is förrän used for "until" instead of tills?
In Swedish, you must use förrän instead of tills when the main clause is negative, meaning it contains a word like inte or aldrig. Because the first part of the sentence says "Vi får inte..." (We will not get...), we are forced to use förrän for "until".
The English translation says "We not get", but is in the present tense. Why?