Word
En trettio kravallpoliser står och väntar med sina sköldar framför sig.
Meaning
About thirty riot police officers are standing and waiting with their shields in front of them.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of En trettio kravallpoliser står och väntar med sina sköldar framför sig.
en
a, an (common)
och
and
sig
oneself / himself / herself / themselves
sin
his/her/its/their own (en-word)
Questions & Answers about En trettio kravallpoliser står och väntar med sina sköldar framför sig.
Why does the sentence use the singular article en before the plural trettio kravallpoliser?
Placing the singular article en before a number is a standard Swedish way to indicate an approximation. Here, en trettio kravallpoliser means about thirty riot police officers or some thirty riot police officers.
Why is it sina sköldar instead of deras sköldar?
Sina is the plural reflexive possessive pronoun. It is used because the shields belong to the subject of the sentence (the riot police officers). If you used deras, it would mean the officers were holding someone else's shields.
Why does the sentence end with framför sig instead of framför dem?
Just like with sina, the reflexive pronoun sig refers back to the subject of the clause. Since the officers are holding the shields in front of themselves, you must use sig. Saying framför dem would mean they were holding the shields in front of a completely different group of people.
Why does the sentence say står och väntar instead of just väntar?
Using a position verb like står, sitter, or ligger combined with och and another verb is a common way to express continuous action in Swedish. While väntar alone means wait or are waiting, står och väntar emphasizes the ongoing action and tells you exactly what physical position they are in.