Breakdown of Om du hade limmat pappersarket, skulle tjockleken vara fel.
vara
to be
du
you (singular)
ha
to have
om
if, whether
skulle
would
fel
wrong
pappersarket
the paper sheet
limma
to glue
tjockleken
the thickness
Questions & Answers about Om du hade limmat pappersarket, skulle tjockleken vara fel.
Why do we use hade limmat in the first part but skulle vara in the second part?
This is a mixed conditional sentence. The "if" clause uses the past perfect (hade limmat) to describe a hypothetical action in the past. The main clause uses skulle + present infinitive (vara) to describe what the result would be right now in the present.
Why does the verb skulle come right after the comma?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire om-clause counts as the first piece of information in the overall sentence. To keep the main verb in the second position, skulle must come immediately after the comma, pushing the subject (tjockleken) to the third position.
How is the word tjockleken formed?
It comes from the adjective tjock (thick). Adding the suffix -lek turns it into a noun describing that dimension: tjocklek (thickness). Another very common example is storlek (size). The -en at the end simply makes it definite ("the thickness").
Why is there an "s" in the middle of pappersarket?
This is a compound word made from papper (paper) and ark (sheet). The -s- is a joining letter commonly used in Swedish to glue two nouns together smoothly. The -et ending is added because ark is an ett-word.
Why doesn't the adjective fel change form to match the noun?
Unlike most Swedish adjectives, fel is indeclinable. This means it never takes an -a or -t ending, regardless of whether it describes an en-word, an ett-word, or a plural noun.
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