Breakdown of Degen håller på att jäsa och bli luftig.
och
and
bli
to become
degen
the dough
hålla på att
to be doing (progressive)
Questions & Answers about Degen håller på att jäsa och bli luftig.
Why use håller på att jäsa instead of just jäser?
While Swedish normally uses the simple present tense (like jäser) to mean both 'rises' and 'is rising', adding håller på att heavily emphasizes that the action is ongoing right now. It translates closely to 'is currently in the process of rising'.
Why isn't there another att before bli?
When two infinitive verbs are linked by och (and), you usually drop the second att. The att before jäsa carries over to bli automatically.
Is jäsa the standard word for 'to rise' in Swedish?
Only in the context of baking or brewing! Att jäsa specifically refers to rising via yeast or fermentation. If you were talking about the sun rising, you would use gå upp, and for water levels or prices, you would use stiga.
Why is the adjective luftig used here instead of luftigt?
The adjective describes the subject, degen (the dough). Because deg is an en-word (en deg), the adjective takes the base form luftig. If the subject were an ett-word, like brödet (the bread), it would be luftigt.