Breakdown of Kan du motivera en löneförhöjning?
du
you (singular)
en
a, an (common)
kunna
to be able to, can
löneförhöjningen
the pay rise
Questions & Answers about Kan du motivera en löneförhöjning?
Wait, doesn't motivera mean to motivate or inspire someone?
It can mean that, but in professional or formal Swedish, motivera very often means to justify, explain, or give reasons for something. Here, you are being asked to provide the reasons why you deserve the pay rise.
How is the long word löneförhöjning constructed?
It is a compound word made from lön (salary or wage) and förhöjning (increase or raise). They are glued together with a linking -e-, which is a very common way to connect words in Swedish compounds.
How would I change this sentence to ask 'Do you dare to justify a pay rise?' using the verb törs from this lesson?
You just swap out kan for törs to make Törs du motivera en löneförhöjning?. Because törs works like a modal verb here, it pairs directly with the bare infinitive motivera without needing the word att (to) in between.
How can I easily remember that löneförhöjning uses the article en?
In Swedish compound nouns, the very last word determines the gender. The final part here is förhöjning, which ends in -ing. Almost all Swedish nouns ending in -ing are en-words.