Breakdown of Det våldsamma upploppet slutade när en trettio poliser kom.
en
a, an (common)
sluta
to stop
komma
to come
när
when
polisen
the police officer
det
the (with ett-words)
trettio
thirty
våldsam
violent
upploppet
the riot
Questions & Answers about Det våldsamma upploppet slutade när en trettio poliser kom.
Why use the singular article en before a plural number like trettio poliser?
This is a common Swedish way to express an approximate number. Putting en before a number translates to "about", "around", or "some". So en trettio poliser means "about thirty police officers".
Can I use ett instead of en for an approximation if the noun is an ett-word?
No, when making this kind of approximation before a plural number, you always use the fixed word en, regardless of the noun's gender. For example, you would still say en trettio upplopp to mean "about thirty riots", even though upplopp is an ett-word.
Why do we need Det at the beginning when upploppet already has the definite -et ending?
Because of the adjective våldsamma (violent). Swedish uses "double definiteness". When an adjective describes a definite noun, you must add the freestanding article (Det for ett-words) before the adjective, add the -a ending to the adjective itself, and keep the noun's definite suffix (-et).
Since när starts a subordinate clause, why is the verb kom at the very end of the sentence? Is it a special word order rule?
There is no special rule moving the verb to the end here. Swedish subordinate clauses follow a Subject-Verb word order. The subject is the entire phrase en trettio poliser, which is immediately followed by the verb kom. The verb just happens to be the last word in the sentence!
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