Breakdown of Informanten trodde att förrädaren flydde utomlands.
tro
to believe
utomlands
abroad
att
that
fly
to flee
Questions & Answers about Informanten trodde att förrädaren flydde utomlands.
How would we change this sentence to say the informant found out instead of just believed that the traitor fled?
You would replace trodde (believed) with fick veta (got to know / found out). The sentence would become: Informanten fick veta att förrädaren flydde utomlands. Using the past tense of få plus the bare infinitive veta is the standard Swedish way to express acquiring new information.
Why is trodde used here instead of tyckte or tänkte for "thought/believed"?
Trodde (the past tense of att tro) is used for beliefs, assumptions, or things you aren't 100% certain about—perfect for an informant's suspicion. Tyckte is used for subjective opinions (e.g., "I thought the plan was bad"), while tänkte is the active cognitive process of thinking or intending to do something.
What is the infinitive form of the verb flydde?
The infinitive is att fly (to flee). Since it is a short verb that ends in a stressed long vowel, it belongs to conjugation group 3. Verbs in this group form their past tense by adding -dde, resulting in flydde.
Why use utomlands here instead of a word like utländsk?