Breakdown of De där fåglarna, om vilka fågelskådarna talar, är sällsynta.
vara
to be
fågeln
the bird
vilka
which (plural)
om
about
de där
those
tala
to speak (more formal than prata)
fågelskådaren
the birdwatcher
sällsynt
rare
Questions & Answers about De där fåglarna, om vilka fågelskådarna talar, är sällsynta.
Why use om vilka instead of the usual som?
om vilka is a formal way to say "about which". In everyday Swedish, you would instead use som and put the preposition at the end of the relative clause: som fågelskådarna talar om. When you want to sound formal and put the preposition first, you cannot use som. Instead, you must use vilken, vilket, or vilka depending on the noun's gender and number. Since fåglarna is plural, we use vilka.
Why is it De där fåglarna and not just De där fåglar?
In Swedish, when you use demonstrative phrases like de där (those) or de här (these), the noun that follows must always be in the definite form. Even though English just says "those birds", Swedish essentially requires "those the-birds".
Where does the word fågelskådarna come from?
It is a compound of fågel (bird) and skådare (watcher) in the definite plural form. The noun skådare comes from the verb att skåda, which is a slightly formal or poetic word meaning "to behold" or "to look at".
Why does sällsynta end in an "a" here?
Because it is describing De där fåglarna, which is plural. The base adjective is sällsynt (rare), and it requires the plural suffix -a to agree with the plural subject.
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