Breakdown of Om vi hade minskat tjockleken, skulle vecket bli förstört.
vi
we
ha
to have
bli
to become
om
if, whether
minska
to reduce
förstörd
destroyed
skulle
would
vecket
the crease
tjockleken
the thickness
Questions & Answers about Om vi hade minskat tjockleken, skulle vecket bli förstört.
How does the mixed conditional time frame work in this sentence?
The om clause (Om vi hade minskat...) uses the past perfect to describe an unreal action in the past (If we had reduced). The main clause (...skulle vecket bli...) uses skulle plus the present infinitive bli to describe the hypothetical present consequence (the crease would be). It mixes a past condition with a present result.
Why is the word order skulle vecket bli instead of vecket skulle bli?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire om clause acts as the first block of information in the sentence. Therefore, the main clause must start immediately with the finite verb (skulle) to keep the verb in the second overall position, followed by the subject (vecket).
Why does förstört end in a -t?
Förstört is the past participle of förstöra (to ruin) acting as an adjective. It must agree in gender with the noun it describes. Since vecket (the crease) is an ett-word (ett veck), the participle takes the neuter -t ending.
How is the noun tjockleken formed?
The suffix -lek turns certain adjectives into nouns. Here, it turns tjock (thick) into tjocklek (thickness). You also see this in common words like storlek (size) and kärlek (love). The -en at the end is just the definite article.
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