Questions & Answers about EU:s nya vd:ar är nämligen mycket unga.
Why do we use a colon in both EU:s and vd:ar?
Since they are both abbreviations, why is EU capitalized but vd is written in lowercase?
EU (Europeiska unionen) is a proper noun, so it keeps its capital letters. However, vd (verkställande direktör, meaning CEO) is a common noun. In modern Swedish, common-noun initialisms that are pronounced letter by letter are usually written in lowercase (other examples include tv and cd). You will sometimes see VD:ar, but the lowercase version is the recommended standard.
Does nämligen literally mean 'namely' here? It feels a bit clunky in English.
It does translate to 'namely', but it is used much more frequently in Swedish than its English equivalent. It acts more like 'you see', 'because', or 'the fact is'. Swedes use nämligen to add an explanation, a reason, or background context to whatever was just discussed. The speaker is essentially explaining a previous point by saying, 'You see, the EU's new CEOs are very young.'
Why does nämligen come right after the verb är?