Breakdown of Ättlingen, till vars by vi hade rest, härstammade från kungen.
vi
we
ha
to have
resa
to travel
till
to (direction, destination)
från
from
byn
the village
kungen
the king
vars
whose
ättlingen
the descendant
härstamma
to descend
Questions & Answers about Ättlingen, till vars by vi hade rest, härstammade från kungen.
How does the phrase till vars by work, and can I put the preposition at the end instead?
The structure of placing a preposition before vars and a noun is very formal Swedish. You will see it in literature and formal texts. In spoken or everyday Swedish, it is much more common to move the preposition to the end of the relative clause, like this: vars by vi hade rest till. Both mean exactly the same thing, but placing till first elevates the tone significantly.
Why is it by and not byn after vars?
The word vars translates to 'whose' and functions as a possessive word. In Swedish, a noun that follows a possessive word must always take the indefinite form, even though we are talking about a specific, definite village. That is why it is vars by instead of vars byn.
Is there a connection between the words ättlingen and härstammade?
They are distinct words but strongly related in context. Ättlingen (the descendant) comes from the old word ätt, meaning a family or clan. Härstammade (descended) comes from stam, meaning a tree trunk or tribe. Together, they use old nature and clan vocabulary to describe a family tree stretching back to the king.
Doesn't the V2 rule require the main verb to come earlier? Why is härstammade so far back in the sentence?
The V2 rule dictates that the main verb must be the second structural element in the main clause. Here, the entire noun phrase Ättlingen, till vars by vi hade rest acts as a single, large first element (the subject). Therefore, the main verb härstammade correctly comes right after this long subject phrase to take the second position.
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