Breakdown of Trollet sprang in i grottan till bergakungen.
i
in
till
to (direction, destination)
springa
to run
in
in, into (motion)
grottan
the cave
trollet
the troll
bergakungen
the mountain king
Questions & Answers about Trollet sprang in i grottan till bergakungen.
Why is it bergakungen and not just bergkungen?
This is a compound of berg (mountain) and kungen (the king). The -a- in the middle is a linking vowel (fogevokal). While an -s- is the most common linking letter in Swedish, an -a- is often used to connect words in old folklore, which is why you see it in words like bergakungen (the mountain king) or bergatroll (mountain troll).
Why does the sentence use 'in i' instead of just 'i'?
Sprang in is a particle verb meaning 'ran inside'. The second i is the preposition connecting it to grottan (the cave). Together, in i means 'into' and shows movement from the outside to the inside. If you just said sprang i grottan, it would mean the troll was already inside the cave running around.
Why is it Trollet with an -et but grottan with an -n?
This is a quick reminder of noun genders. Troll is an ett-word, so its definite form (the troll) takes -et. Grotta is an en-word ending in an -a, so it just adds an -n to become grottan (the cave).
Is sprang a regular verb?
No, it is an irregular (strong) verb. The infinitive is att springa (to run), and the past tense is sprang.
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