Breakdown of Vi behöver optimismen för att besegra extremismen.
vi
we
behöva
to need
att
to
för
for, to
besegra
to defeat
extremismen
the extremism
optimismen
the optimism
Questions & Answers about Vi behöver optimismen för att besegra extremismen.
How do we know the gender of words like optimism and extremism?
International loanwords ending in the suffix -ism are predictably en-words. That is why they both take the definite ending -en in this sentence to become optimismen and extremismen.
Why does Swedish use the definite forms optimismen and extremismen here when English just uses the bare words?
Swedish typically uses the definite form for abstract nouns when talking about them in a general, conceptual sense. While English says "We need optimism", Swedish literally says "We need the optimism".
Why use för att besegra instead of just att besegra?
When the English word "to" means "in order to", expressing the purpose of an action, Swedish requires för att plus the infinitive verb. If you only used att besegra, it would not clearly express that defeating extremism is the goal.
If we needed to talk about multiple types of extremism, how would we make it plural?
Words ending in -ism take the -er suffix in the plural, making it extremismer. However, because they usually refer to overarching concepts, you will rarely need to use them in the plural form.
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