Breakdown of Hur skicklig glasblåsaren än är, kan en glödande droppe spricka.
vara
to be
en
a, an (common)
hur
how
kunna
to be able to, can
skicklig
skilful
än
ever (concessive particle)
glasblåsaren
the glassblower
glödande
glowing
droppen
the drop
spricka
to crack
Questions & Answers about Hur skicklig glasblåsaren än är, kan en glödande droppe spricka.
How does the hur ... än construction work in this sentence?
It creates a concessive clause meaning "no matter how" or "however". The strict word order you must follow is hur + adjective/adverb (skicklig) + subject (glasblåsaren) + än + verb (är).
I know än usually means "than" or "still". What is it doing here?
In this specific grammatical structure, än loses its normal meaning. Together with hur, it acts like the "-ever" in "however" or the "no matter" in "no matter how". If you were to drop än, the clause would just look like a question ("How skilled is the glassblower?").
Why does the second part of the sentence start with the verb kan instead of the subject en glödande droppe?
This is the Swedish V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire first clause, Hur skicklig glasblåsaren än är, counts as the first "block" of information in the sentence. To keep the main verb in the second position, kan must come right after the comma.
Why doesn't the word glödande (glowing) change its ending to match the noun it describes?
Glödande is a present participle, formed by adding -ande to the verb att glöda (to glow). When present participles are used as adjectives in Swedish, they are completely indeclinable. This means they never take -t or -a endings, regardless of the noun's gender or whether it is plural.
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