Breakdown of Spionen fick veta allt om operationen.
veta
to know (facts, information)
allt
everything / all (neuter)
om
about
spionen
the spy
få
to get to (do something)
operationen
the operation
Questions & Answers about Spionen fick veta allt om operationen.
How exactly does fick veta translate to "found out"?
The verb få (here in the past tense, fick) combined with a verb of knowledge or perception like veta indicates the exact moment of acquiring that knowledge. While it literally means "got to know", the most natural English translation for receiving new information this way is "found out" or "was told".
Why is there no infinitive marker att before veta?
In this specific construction, få functions as an auxiliary verb. Just like with other auxiliary or modal verbs (such as kan or vill), it takes a bare infinitive directly after it. Therefore, you drop the att and just write fick veta.
Does fick veta imply the spy actively investigated to find this out?
Not necessarily. The få + infinitive structure often carries a receptive or passive nuance. It means the information came to the spy, perhaps through a briefing, an informant, or a leak. If you wanted to emphasize active deduction or discovery, you would use an active verb like upptäckte (discovered) or listade ut (figured out).
Why do we use allt here instead of alla for "everything"?
When referring to an abstract, uncountable concept like "everything", Swedish uses the neuter singular form allt. The word alla is plural and translates to "everyone" or "all of them" when referring to countable people or distinct items.
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