Learn Swedish: Det här materialet känns svampaktigt och läderaktigt.

The suffix -aktig means 'resembling' or 'having the characteristics of', similar to the English suffixes '-y' or '-ish'. It attaches to nouns to form adjectives. Here, it turns the nouns svamp (sponge) and läder (leather) into the adjectives svampaktig (spongy) and läderaktig (leathery).

Why do both adjectives end in -t here?

Adjectives in Swedish must agree with the gender of the noun they describe. Because they refer back to materialet, which is a neuter noun (an ett-word), both adjectives must take the neuter suffix -t, becoming svampaktigt and läderaktigt.

Why does the verb känns end in an -s?

The verb känns is an s-verb. While the active verb känner means 'feels' when a person experiences an emotion or actively touches something, the s-form känns is used to describe how an object feels to the touch, focusing on the material's own physical properties.

Why do we say Det här materialet and not just Det här material?