Breakdown of En tio personer slängde sina plakat och startade upploppet.
en
a, an (common)
och
and
sin
his/her/its/their own (en-word)
tio
ten
starta
to start (a machine, engine, business)
slänga
to throw away (casual, to toss)
personen
the person (an individual)
plakatet
the placard
upploppet
the riot
Questions & Answers about En tio personer slängde sina plakat och startade upploppet.
Why is there a singular en before the plural tio personer?
Using the singular article en or ett before a number is a common way to say about or approximately. So en tio personer means about ten people. You choose between en and ett based on the gender of the noun that follows the number (since person is an en-word, we use en).
Why does the sentence use sina plakat instead of deras plakat?
Because sina shows that they threw their own placards. In Swedish, if you use deras (their) here, it would mean the group of ten threw placards belonging to a completely different group of people. Since the subject is plural and the object (plakat) is also plural, the correct reflexive possessive is sina.
Is plakat plural here? It looks exactly like the singular form.
Yes, it is plural! Ett plakat is a neuter noun (an ett-word) that ends in a consonant. In Swedish, these types of words do not change their spelling in the indefinite plural. One placard is ett plakat, and multiple placards are just plakat.
Could I use kastade instead of slängde for threw?
You could, but slängde is a more natural fit for threw away. While kastade refers to the physical action of throwing (like throwing a ball), slängde often carries the specific meaning of discarding or dumping something, which is exactly what the rioters are doing here.
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