Word
Eftersom aktiviteterna minskat, förlorade auktoriteten all makt.
Meaning
Since the activities had decreased, the authority lost all power.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Eftersom aktiviteterna minskat, förlorade auktoriteten all makt.
förlora
to lose
all
all (singular en-words)
eftersom
since, because
minska
to reduce
Questions & Answers about Eftersom aktiviteterna minskat, förlorade auktoriteten all makt.
Both aktiviteterna and auktoriteten end in -itet. Is there a rule for their gender and plurals?
Yes! International loanwords ending in -itet are reliably en-words. To form the plural, they take the -er suffix. So en aktivitet becomes aktiviteter (and aktiviteterna in the definite plural), while en auktoritet becomes auktoriteter.
Why does the sentence say just minskat instead of hade minskat?
In Swedish subordinate clauses (clauses starting with words like eftersom, att, or om), the auxiliary verb har or hade is often dropped. So eftersom aktiviteterna minskat means the exact same thing as eftersom aktiviteterna hade minskat. This is a very common shortcut in written Swedish.
Why is the word order förlorade auktoriteten instead of auktoriteten förlorade?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire subordinate clause (Eftersom aktiviteterna minskat) acts as the first building block of the sentence. Therefore, the main verb (förlorade) must immediately follow it in the second position, before the subject (auktoriteten).
Why use the active form minskat rather than a passive form like here?