Breakdown of Han sa att vattnet var fruset.
vara
to be
han
he
vattnet
the water
säga
to say
att
that
frusen
frozen
Questions & Answers about Han sa att vattnet var fruset.
Why is the word for frozen spelled fruset here instead of frusen?
The base adjective is frusen. Because vatten is an ett word (neuter singular), the adjective must agree with it. For adjectives ending in an unstressed -en, Swedish drops the -n and adds -t, making it fruset.
Could I use fryst instead of fruset here?
Usually, no. Frusen (and its neuter form fruset) means something froze naturally, like a lake in winter. Fryst implies that someone intentionally froze it, like making ice in a freezer. Unless the water was actively put in a freezer, fruset is the correct choice.
Why is the definite form of water vattnet and not vattenet?
Vatten is an ett word that already ends in -en. When making it definite, adding the -et suffix directly would make it clumsy to pronounce (vattenet). To fix this, Swedish drops the middle -e-, resulting in vattnet.
I am used to past tense verbs ending in -de or -te. Why is sa so short?
Sa is the past tense of säga (to say). The traditional written past tense is sade, but it has been pronounced as sa for a very long time. Today, it is completely standard and accepted to write it exactly as it sounds: sa.
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