Breakdown of Om ordföranden säger upp sig, vem ska efterträda honom?
vem
who
ska
will
honom
him
om
if, whether
säga upp sig
to resign
ordföranden
the chairperson
efterträda
to succeed (take someone's position)
Questions & Answers about Om ordföranden säger upp sig, vem ska efterträda honom?
Since this lesson is about denne, could we replace honom with denne here?
Yes, in highly formal written Swedish, you could write vem ska efterträda denne? Since ordföranden refers to a person and is historically masculine, denne can act as an independent anaphoric pronoun referring back to him. However, honom is the standard, natural choice; using denne elevates the tone significantly, making it sound like a legal document or a strict official report.
Why is sig necessary in säger upp sig?
The verb att säga upp sig is reflexive and means to resign or to quit one's job. If you drop the reflexive pronoun and just use att säga upp, it means to fire someone or to cancel something, like a contract or subscription. The sig is crucial here to show that the chairman is terminating his own employment.
What is the base form of ordföranden and how is it constructed?
The base noun is en ordförande (a chairman or chairperson). It is a compound of ord (word) and the present participle of att föra (to lead or to guide), literally meaning the one leading the words. Because it is an en-word ending in an -e, its definite form simply takes an -n to become ordföranden.
Does the second clause vem ska efterträda honom violate the V2 (verb-second) rule by not swapping the subject and verb after the comma?
Not at all! In questions where the interrogative pronoun (like vem) is the subject, the verb remains in the second position without needing inversion. Here, vem occupies the first position of the main clause, and the auxiliary verb ska perfectly follows the V2 rule by taking the second slot.
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