Breakdown of Statistiken visar hundra personer, varav nittio är studenter.
vara
to be
studenten
the student
nittio
ninety
hundra
a hundred
visa
to show
personen
the person (an individual)
statistiken
the statistics
varav
of which
Questions & Answers about Statistiken visar hundra personer, varav nittio är studenter.
How exactly does varav work in this sentence, and could I say av vilka instead?
Varav is a formal relative adverb meaning 'out of which' or 'of whom.' It is highly idiomatic in Swedish for introducing a subset of a group you just mentioned (here, the hundred people). While av vilka is grammatically correct, varav is the standard, natural choice for presenting subsets in statistics and formal writing.
Why is Statistiken in the singular form when the English translation says 'statistics'?
In Swedish, statistik is an uncountable noun, meaning it is always singular. That is why it takes the singular definite ending -en (statistiken) instead of a plural ending. While English treats 'statistics' (the data) as plural, Swedish treats the collection of data as a single mass.
Why doesn't the sentence say ett hundra personer for 'a hundred people'?
When saying 'a hundred' or 'a thousand' in Swedish, you generally drop the word ett (one/a) and just say hundra or tusen. You only use ett hundra if you need to strongly emphasize that it is exactly one hundred and not two or three.
Since varav starts a new clause, what happens to the word order if I want to add a word like inte (not)?
Varav introduces a subordinate clause. In Swedish subordinate clauses, sentence adverbs like inte must be placed before the verb. So, if ninety of them were not students, you would write: ...varav nittio inte är studenter.
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