Breakdown of Han var utvandraren av vars beslut hela släkten påverkades.
vara
to be
han
he
av
of, by / from (cause)
hel
whole
släkten
the extended family
beslutet
the decision
vars
whose
påverka
to affect
utvandraren
the emigrant
Questions & Answers about Han var utvandraren av vars beslut hela släkten påverkades.
Why is the preposition av placed before vars instead of at the end of the sentence?
In formal Swedish, when a relative clause requires a preposition (because the family was affected av the decision), the preposition goes right before the relative pronoun vars. This creates the elegant structure av vars beslut (by whose decision). In more casual speech, people tend to avoid this structure entirely by rephrasing.
Does släkten mean the exact same thing as familjen?
No, familjen usually refers to your immediate family, like parents and children living together. Släkten means the extended family or all your relatives. This makes sense here, as an emigrant leaving would impact the broader family tree.
Why is it just hela släkten and not den hela släkten?
The word hel is a special case. When you use its definite form hela to mean the whole something, it doesn't take the separate freestanding article den or det that adjectives normally require. It goes directly in front of the noun in its definite form, just like in hela dagen (the whole day).
How does the verb påverkades get its passive meaning here?
By adding an -s to the end of the active verb. The active past tense is påverkade (affected), so adding the passive -s turns it into påverkades (was affected).
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