Breakdown of Barnen räknar till tjugo.
barnet
the child
till
to (direction, destination)
tjugo
twenty
räkna
to count
Questions & Answers about Barnen räknar till tjugo.
Why is "the children" translated as barnen? I thought plurals usually end in -ar or -or.
Barn is an ett word (a neuter noun) that ends in a consonant. In Swedish, these words don't change in the indefinite plural (one child = ett barn, two children = två barn). To make it definite plural ("the children"), you add -en to the base word, resulting in barnen.
How is tjugo actually pronounced in everyday speech?
Even though it is spelled tjugo, native speakers almost always pronounce it as "tjugi" or "tjuge" in relaxed, everyday speech. It is a very common shortcut in spoken Swedish to change the final "o" sound in the tens (like tjugo, trettio, and fyrtio).
Can räknar be used for other types of math besides just counting?
Yes! While räknar by itself usually means "count," it is the general verb for calculating or doing math. You will also see it in very common B1-level phrasal verbs: räkna ut means "to figure out" or "calculate," and räkna med means "to count on" or "expect."
Why do we use the preposition till here?