Breakdown of Då skenet var borta i dimman, lämnade kaptenen skäret bakom sig.
vara
to be
i
in
sig
oneself / himself / herself / themselves
lämna
to leave
bakom
behind
borta
away, gone (location)
kaptenen
the captain
då
since, because
skenet
the glow
dimman
the fog
skäret
the skerry
Questions & Answers about Då skenet var borta i dimman, lämnade kaptenen skäret bakom sig.
Does då mean 'when' or 'since' in this sentence?
In this context, då acts as a causal conjunction meaning 'since' or 'because'—it explains why the captain left. While då can also mean 'when' or 'then', using it to mean 'since' is very common, though slightly more formal than eftersom.
Why is the word order lämnade kaptenen instead of kaptenen lämnade?
This happens because of the Swedish V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire subordinate clause (Då skenet var borta i dimman) counts as the first piece of information. The main clause verb (lämnade) must take the second position, which pushes the subject (kaptenen) after the verb.
Why do we use sig instead of honom in bakom sig?
The pronoun needs to reflect back to the subject of the clause, which is kaptenen. He left the skerry behind himself, so we must use the reflexive pronoun sig. If you wrote bakom honom, it would mean the captain left the skerry behind some other man.
Why is it borta rather than just bort?
Swedish distinguishes between motion and location. Bort implies movement away, whereas borta describes a state or location of being gone. Because the glow is in a static state of being gone (indicated by the verb var), you must use borta.
Learn Då skenet var borta i dimman, lämnade kaptenen skäret bakom sig and more in Swedish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free