Breakdown of General Tomas besegrade fienden med svärdet.
Tomas
Tomas
med
with
besegra
to defeat
svärdet
the sword
fienden
the enemy
generalen
the general
Questions & Answers about General Tomas besegrade fienden med svärdet.
Why is it General Tomas and not the definite form Generalen Tomas?
When a title, profession, or honorific comes directly before a proper noun (a name), Swedish uses the zero article or bare form. Even though we are talking about a specific general, you drop the definite suffix and just say General Tomas, similar to English. If you removed his name, you would need the definite form: Generalen besegrade fienden.
What is the root of the verb besegrade?
The root is the noun en seger, which means a victory. By adding the prefix be-, which often creates transitive verbs, it becomes the verb besegra, meaning to defeat or to conquer. Besegrade is the past tense.
Why doesn't the definite noun fienden have a double E, like fiendeen?
Because en fiende (an enemy) already ends in an -e, it only adds an -n to form the definite singular fienden. Adding the full -en suffix would create an awkward double vowel.
Why does the sentence use svärdet instead of svärden for the sword?
The word for sword is an ett-word: ett svärd. Because it is an ett-word ending in a consonant, its definite singular form takes the -et suffix, making it svärdet (the sword). If you wrote svärden, it would mean the swords, which is the definite plural form.
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