Breakdown of Hon visar sin dräkt i paraden.
hon
she
i
in
sin
his/her/its/their own (en-word)
visa
to show
paraden
the parade
dräkten
the costume
Questions & Answers about Hon visar sin dräkt i paraden.
Since the lesson is about impersonal s-passives, can we say 'Det visas sin dräkt' to mean 'There is showing of her costume'?
No. The impersonal s-passive (like det dansas) is used with intransitive verbs (verbs without a direct object). Because visar has a direct object here (sin dräkt), you cannot make it an impersonal passive. Instead, you would use a regular passive: Hennes dräkt visas i paraden (Her costume is shown in the parade).
Why do we use sin here instead of hennes?
Sin is a reflexive pronoun that refers back to the subject of the clause (Hon), meaning it is her own costume. If you used hennes, it would imply she is showing some other woman's costume. Keep in mind that if you change this to a passive sentence, the costume becomes the subject, so you must drop the reflexive and say Hennes dräkt visas.
Doesn't the Swedish word kostym mean costume? Why use dräkt?
They are 'false friends'! In Swedish, en kostym almost always refers to a standard business suit. To talk about a masquerade costume, a traditional folk outfit, or a women's matching suit, you use en dräkt.
Why is the preposition i (in) used with a parade instead of på (on/at), which is so common for events?
While you are right that events often take på (like på en fest), a parade is conceptualized as a physical formation or a stream of people. Since she is actively participating from inside that formation, Swedish uses i paraden.
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