Question 1

Why does knappt mean "just under" here instead of "hardly" or "barely"?

Accepted Answer

While knappt usually means "barely" or "hardly", when it is placed directly before a number or a measurement, it translates to "just under" or "almost". It tells you the amount is slightly less than the number stated. As a bonus, if you wanted to say "just over a hundred", you would use drygt hundra.

Question 2

I often mix up the plural forms of short words. Why is it hundra bin and not bina?

Accepted Answer

Bi is an ett-word ending in a vowel (ett bi). Such nouns take an -n in the indefinite plural, so "hundred bees" is hundra bin. Bina is the definite plural, which would mean "the hundred bees".

Question 3

Could I just say flög i bikupan instead of flög in i bikupan?

Accepted Answer

You need in i to clearly show the directional motion from outside to inside, similar to "into" in English. If you just said flög i bikupan, it would sound like the bees were already inside the hive flying around in circles, because i alone often implies location rather than destination.

Question 4

How would I rewrite this sentence as an action-focus pseudo-cleft, like we are learning in this lesson?

Accepted Answer

To focus entirely on the action the bees took, you can frame it as "What the bees did was...". In Swedish, this becomes: Vad knappt hundra bin gjorde var att flyga in i bikupan. Notice that the past tense verb flög must change into the infinitive att flyga after the var att construction.

Knappt hundra bin flög in i bikupan.

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