Learn Swedish: Ökar han hastigheten, förlorar vi loppet. - If he increases the speed, we lose the race.

In Swedish, you can create a conditional "if" clause simply by starting the sentence with the verb. By placing ökar at the very beginning, the clause Ökar han hastigheten automatically means "If he increases the speed". You could also use the word for "if" and say Om han ökar hastigheten, which means exactly the same thing.

Why is the second part of the sentence written as förlorar vi instead of vi förlorar?

This is due to the Swedish V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire first clause (Ökar han hastigheten) acts as the first block of information in the main sentence. Therefore, the verb of the main clause (förlorar) must come next to take the second position, followed immediately by the subject (vi).

Can the verb ökar be used if something increases on its own?

Yes! In Swedish, ökar works both when someone actively increases an object (as in this sentence, where he increases the speed) and when a metric simply increases by itself. For example, you could just say Hastigheten ökar (The speed is increasing).

What is the root of the word loppet?