Breakdown of Cirkusen är visserligen spännande, men trapetsen är livsfarlig.
vara
to be
men
but
spännande
exciting
cirkusen
the circus
visserligen
admittedly
livsfarlig
highly dangerous
trapetsen
the trapeze
Questions & Answers about Cirkusen är visserligen spännande, men trapetsen är livsfarlig.
How does the pair visserligen ... men work in this sentence, and where do we place visserligen?
Visserligen (admittedly/certainly) and men (but) work together to concede a point before making a contrasting one. Since visserligen is a sentence adverb, it takes the standard adverb position in a main clause: immediately after the finite verb (är).
Why is the word order trapetsen är and not är trapetsen after men?
Men is a coordinating conjunction, meaning it joins two independent main clauses without being part of either. It sits at position zero, so the subject trapetsen is in position one, keeping the verb är in its strict V2 (verb-second) slot.
Is spännande an adjective, and why doesn't it have an ending to match the noun?
Spännande (exciting) is a present participle acting as an adjective. In Swedish, present participles end in -ande or -ende and are completely indeclinable. They never take -t or -a endings, regardless of whether the noun is an en-word, an ett-word, or plural.
How is the compound word livsfarlig built?
It combines the noun liv (life) and the adjective farlig (dangerous), linked together with an -s-. This is a common way to build strong adjectives in Swedish, translating here as life-threatening or fatal.
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