Breakdown of Byggandet av den nya bron är beroende av bevarandet av floden.
vara
to be
ny
new
den
the (with en-words)
floden
the river
av
of, by / from (cause)
bron
the bridge
beroende
dependent
byggandet
the building (process)
bevarandet
the preserving
Questions & Answers about Byggandet av den nya bron är beroende av bevarandet av floden.
How are the nouns byggandet and bevarandet formed in this sentence?
They are formed by adding the suffix -ande to the verb stems bygg- and bevar-. This creates a neuter noun (an ett word) representing the action itself. We then add a -t at the end to make them definite, translating to 'the building' and 'the preserving'.
Why do we use av immediately after byggandet and bevarandet?
When an -ande or -ende action noun is followed by the target of that action (the bridge being built, the river being preserved), Swedish uses the preposition av to connect them. This acts like 'of' in the English phrase 'the building of the bridge'.
The word beroende ends in -ende. Is it the same type of action noun as byggandet?
Not quite. While byggandet and bevarandet function as true nouns here, beroende functions as an adjective meaning 'dependent'. Both endings originate from the present participle form of verbs, but beroende acts as an adjective that pairs with the fixed preposition av (meaning 'dependent on').
Why does the sentence say den nya bron instead of den nya bro?
This is a classic reminder of Swedish double definiteness. Because you have the definite article den and the definite adjective nya, the noun itself must also take its definite form, which is bron (the bridge).
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