Question 1

Why is there an -s- in the middle of tidsresan?

Accepted Answer

It's a linking -s- connecting the noun tid (time) and the definite noun resan (the journey). This is extremely common when forming compound words in Swedish, especially when the first word is an en-word ending in a consonant.

Question 2

Why doesn't the plural noun problem have a plural ending here?

Accepted Answer

Problem is an ett-word (neuter noun) that ends in a consonant. In Swedish, these nouns don't change in their indefinite plural form (just like ett hus, flera hus). You can tell it's plural here because the adjective modifying it, oändliga (infinite), takes the plural -a ending.

Question 3

Could I use the phrase förr i tiden instead of i dåtiden here?

Accepted Answer

You could, but the nuance is a bit different. Förr i tiden is an idiom meaning "in the old days" or "back then," often used to describe how people used to live. I dåtiden treats "the past" as a literal, physical era or destination, which is the perfect choice for a sci-fi context involving a time journey.

Question 4

Since this lesson covers Tänk om (Imagine if / What if), how would this sentence look if it were a hypothetical thought?

Accepted Answer

You would simply put Tänk om at the start: Tänk om tidsresan skapade oändliga problem i dåtiden! (What if the time journey created...). In Swedish, hypothetical statements introduced by tänk om use normal word order, and the past tense verb (skapade) functions exactly like the English conditional "what if it created...".

Tidsresan skapade oändliga problem i dåtiden.

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