Questions & Answers about Fallet var svårare än vi trodde.
Why is trodde used here instead of tyckte or tänkte for the word "thought"?
In Swedish, tro means to believe or to assume something you do not know for sure, which fits perfectly here since they did not know the true difficulty of the case beforehand. You use tycka to express a personal opinion, and tänka for the actual brain process of thinking or intending to do something.
Does fallet mean anything else besides a police or medical "case"?
Yes! The base word ett fall can also literally mean a physical "fall" (like tripping or dropping), or even a "waterfall". In this sentence, the context tells us it means a case or a situation.
How do you form the comparative "harder" from the adjective svår?
You simply add the ending -are to the base adjective, making it svårare. While English switches to "more" for longer words like "more difficult", Swedish regularly sticks to adding -are to the end of most adjectives, regardless of their length.
Could I use som instead of än to mean "than" here?
No, you must use än when comparing things that are different (like "harder than"). The word som translates to "as" and is used when things are on the same level, for example in the phrase lika svårt som which means "as hard as".