Breakdown of Regeringen vill rädda en nästan helt utrotad art.
en
a, an (common)
vilja
to want to
rädda
to save
regeringen
the government
Questions & Answers about Regeringen vill rädda en nästan helt utrotad art.
How does the phrase nästan helt utrotad work grammatically here?
This is a complex pre-modifying attribute. The adverbs nästan (almost) and helt (completely) stack together to modify the past participle utrotad (eradicated), which in turn describes the noun art. Just like in English, these modifiers sit neatly between the article en and the noun art.
Why does the participle end in -ad (utrotad) instead of -at or -ade?
Because it functions as an adjective describing the noun art, which is an en word in the singular (en art). If the noun were an ett word, it would be utrotat, and if it were plural or definite, it would be utrotade.
Could I place the modifying phrase after the noun instead, like en art som är nästan helt utrotad?
Yes, using a relative clause with som is perfectly fine and often used in spoken Swedish. However, written and journalistic Swedish heavily favors putting these complex participial phrases directly before the noun to make the sentence more concise.
Is utrotad the standard word for extinct?