Question 1

Why is före used here instead of innan?

Accepted Answer

In formal, prescriptive Swedish, före is a preposition used before a noun phrase (like operationen in this sentence). Meanwhile, innan is a conjunction used before a full clause that has its own subject and verb. While you will often hear Swedes use innan as a preposition in everyday speech, using före before a noun is the strictly correct choice for written or formal Swedish.

Question 2

If I wanted to follow the strict grammar rules and use innan, how would I rewrite this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Because innan technically requires a full clause, you would have to add a new subject and verb after it. For example, you could say Du måste fasta innan du opereras (You must fast before you undergo surgery).

Question 3

Is fasta a verb here, or does it mean something like firm or stuck?

Accepted Answer

It is a verb here, meaning to fast (to abstain from food). Because it follows the modal verb måste, it has to be in its infinitive form. While it looks identical to the plural or definite adjective fasta (which means firm or stuck), its position directly after måste tells you it is an action.

Question 4

How can we tell the gender of the noun operation?

Accepted Answer

We can see it is an en-word because it takes the -en suffix in its definite form (operationen). As a handy refresher rule, all Swedish nouns ending in -tion are en-words!

Du måste fasta före operationen.

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