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EU:s nya vd:ar är nämligen mycket unga.

EU:s nya vd:ar är nämligen mycket unga.
The EU's new CEOs are namely very young.
From Lesson 381:Suffixes on acronyms (tv:n, vd:s)·Swedish

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?
This is the standard Swedish spelling rule for adding grammatical endings to initialisms and acronyms. To attach a suffix—like the genitive (possessive) -s in EU:s or the plural -ar in vd:ar—you use a colon to clearly separate the base abbreviation from the ending.
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?
nämligen is a sentence adverb. In a main clause, Swedish sentence adverbs (like inte, ofta, and nämligen) strictly follow the finite (conjugated) verb. Here, it slips right into that standard position after är.
Just as a refresher, why do nya and unga both end in -a?
They are both adjectives modifying the plural noun vd:ar (CEOs). In Swedish, adjectives take an -a ending when they describe a plural noun. This rule applies whether the adjective comes directly before the noun as an attribute (nya vd:ar) or later in the sentence after a verb (är ... unga).

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