Breakdown of Många som skriver till tidningen vill vara anonyma.
vara
to be
tidningen
the newspaper
skriva
to write
vilja
to want to
till
to (direction, destination)
många
many
som
who / which / that (relative pronoun)
anonym
anonymous
Questions & Answers about Många som skriver till tidningen vill vara anonyma.
Why is många used by itself here without a noun like människor (people)?
Just like in English, Swedish often drops the noun when referring to people in a general sense. The word många functions perfectly well on its own as a subject, meaning "many people". This is a plural equivalent of the adjective-as-noun concept you are learning in this lesson (like using det bästa for "the best thing").
Why does anonyma end in -a?
Because it describes the subject många, which is plural. Even though they are separated by a long relative clause, the predicative adjective anonyma at the end of the sentence still has to agree in number with the plural subject it modifies.
What is the difference between saying someone skriver till tidningen versus skriver för tidningen?
Skriver till means you are sending a message to them, like a reader submitting a letter to the editor. If you say someone skriver för tidningen, it means they are employed by or contribute to the newspaper as a journalist or writer.
Why isn't there a pronoun before vill, like vill de vara anonyma?
The entire phrase Många som skriver till tidningen acts as the single subject of this sentence. In Swedish word order, the main verb (vill) comes immediately after this subject block, so inserting de would create a grammatically incorrect double subject.
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