Breakdown of De flesta forskare tror inte att tidsmaskinen existerar.
inte
not
tro
to believe
att
that
forskaren
the researcher
de flesta
most (countable)
tidsmaskinen
the time machine
existera
to exist
Questions & Answers about De flesta forskare tror inte att tidsmaskinen existerar.
Why is it De flesta forskare and not De mesta forskare?
De flesta is used for countable nouns (like researchers, cars, or apples) to mean 'most'. You only use mesta for uncountable things, usually in the form det mesta, such as det mesta av tiden (most of the time).
Why is forskare in the indefinite plural form here? Doesn't the word De usually require the definite form?
Usually, yes. However, the phrase de flesta (most) is a fixed quantifier expression that is always followed by the indefinite plural of the noun. Therefore, it is always de flesta forskare, never de flesta forskarna.
How would we use this lesson's grammar to say 'Imagine if the time machine existed!'?
You would use Tänk om (imagine if / what if) followed by the past tense to show that it is a hypothetical scenario: Tänk om tidsmaskinen existerade! This contrasts with our current sentence, which discusses real-world facts and uses the present tense existerar.
What if we wanted to say 'Most researchers believe that the time machine does not exist'? Where would inte go?
The sentence would become De flesta forskare tror att tidsmaskinen inte existerar. Because att tidsmaskinen inte existerar is a subordinate clause (a 'that' clause), the negation inte must come before the verb existerar. In our original sentence, inte negates the main verb tror, so it comes right after it.
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