Word
Tången håller klingan medan smeden gör den vass.
Meaning
The tongs hold the blade while the blacksmith makes it sharp.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Tången håller klingan medan smeden gör den vass.
den
it (common)
göra
to do, to make
hålla
to hold / to hold on to
medan
while
Questions & Answers about Tången håller klingan medan smeden gör den vass.
Why is the adjective vass used here instead of vasst?
vass is an object predicative here, meaning it describes the object of the clause, den (it). Because den refers back to klingan (a singular en-word), the adjective must agree with it. If the blacksmith were sharpening an ett-word like svärdet (the sword), the object would be det and the adjective would be vasst (...gör det vasst).
The English translation says 'The tongs hold', which is plural. Why is Tången singular in Swedish?
Unlike English, which treats tools with two parts (like tongs, scissors, or glasses) as plural nouns, Swedish treats them as singular objects. A single pair of tongs is just en tång, and the definite form is tången. If the blacksmith had multiple pairs, it would be tängerna.
Is gör always the right verb for 'making' something a certain way?
Yes! When 'make' means causing a change in state or property (make + adjective), Swedish uses gör. This is the classic setup for an object predicative. The verb gör acts on the object (den) to assign it a new quality (vass).
Does the conjunction medan affect the word order in the second half of the sentence?