Breakdown of Vilket av essen är mest komplicerat att spela?
vara
to be
spela
to play
att
to
vilken
which (en) / what a (en-word, exclamatory)
Questions & Answers about Vilket av essen är mest komplicerat att spela?
Why do we use av essen here instead of just asking vilket ess?
The phrase Vilket av essen means "Which of the aces", which picks one out of a specific, defined group (the partitive construction). If you said Vilket ess, it would just mean "Which ace" out of any aces in general. Because we are pulling from a specific group, the noun must be in the definite plural form (essen).
Why does the sentence use Vilket instead of Vilken?
The question word must agree with the gender of the noun it refers to, even when separated by the preposition av. Because "ace" is an ett-word (ett ess), we use the neuter form Vilket. If it were an en-word like a king (en kung), it would be Vilken av kungarna.
How does the word ess change between singular and plural?
The base word is ett ess (an ace). Because it is an ett-word ending in a consonant, the indefinite plural remains exactly the same: flera ess (several aces). To get the definite plural used in this sentence, you add -en, making it essen.
Why is it mest komplicerat rather than a single word with an -ast ending?