Breakdown of Hunden åt för snabbt och höll på att kvävas.
och
and
hunden
the dog
snabb
fast
äta
to eat
för
too
hålla på att
to almost do (averted action)
kvävas
to choke
Questions & Answers about Hunden åt för snabbt och höll på att kvävas.
Wait, doesn't höll på att usually mean "was doing" (an ongoing action)? How do we know it means "almost" here?
You are absolutely right that håller på att plus a verb is the standard way to express an ongoing action (like "am reading"). However, when used in the past tense (höll på att), it often translates to an "averted action"—meaning somebody "almost did" or "was on the verge of doing" something, but it didn't fully happen. Context tells you which one it is: since the dog survived to have the story told, höll på att kvävas means it almost choked, rather than it being in a continuous state of choking to death.
Why does kvävas end in an -s? Isn't the dog doing the choking?
This is a great example of when Swedish uses an -s verb (a passive or deponent form) differently from English. The active verb kväva means to choke or smother someone or something else. When you choke on your own food, Swedish uses the passive form kvävas (literally "to be choked").
Why is it för snabbt with a -t instead of just för snabb?
Here, snabbt is acting as an adverb describing how the dog ate (åt). Just like adding "-ly" in English (quick vs. quickly), Swedish adjectives generally take a -t at the end when they modify a verb.
How would höll på att kvävas sound in natural, spoken Swedish?
In casual speech, Swedes rarely pronounce the word att fully. The phrase höll på att blends together and the att is reduced to a short "å" sound. You will almost always hear this spoken as höll på å kvävas.
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