Breakdown of Institutionerna förlorade sin auktoritet för många år sedan.
många
many
året
the year
sin
his/her/its/their own (en-word)
förlora
to lose
för ... sedan
ago (in 'för ... sedan')
institutionen
the institution
auktoriteten
the authority (power, influence)
Questions & Answers about Institutionerna förlorade sin auktoritet för många år sedan.
How do we know the gender and plural form of institutionerna just by looking at its suffix?
The base word ends in the international suffix -tion. In Swedish, almost all loanwords ending in -tion are en-words (common gender) and form their plural by adding -er. That is why the definite plural becomes institutionerna (base word + -er + -na).
Does the noun auktoritet follow a similar predictable pattern?
Yes! International loanwords ending in the suffix -itet (like kvalitet or identitet) are also predictably en-words and take -er in the plural. Here, it is used in the singular indefinite form.
Why is it sin auktoritet and not sina auktoritet or deras auktoritet, considering the subject is plural?
The reflexive possessive pronoun refers back to the subject (institutionerna), meaning they lost their own authority. Even though the subject is plural, we use sin because the thing being owned (auktoritet) is a singular en-word. If they had lost multiple authorities, it would be sina. We avoid deras here because that would mean they lost someone else's authority.
How is the phrase "many years ago" constructed here?
To express "ago" in Swedish, you wrap the amount of time inside the two-part phrase för ... sedan. The time period goes right in the middle, creating för många år sedan.
Why doesn't the word år change its form after the plural word många?
År is an ett-word that ends in a consonant. These types of nouns have a zero-plural, meaning they do not take a suffix in the indefinite plural and look exactly the same as they do in the singular. So we say ett år (one year) and många år (many years).
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