Breakdown of Älskar du själva skejtaren eller kreativiteten?
du
you (singular)
älska
to love
eller
or
själva
the actual / the ... itself
skejtaren
the skater
kreativiteten
the creativity
Questions & Answers about Älskar du själva skejtaren eller kreativiteten?
Why is it själva and not själv in this sentence?
When used as an emphatic determiner meaning "the actual" or "the [noun] itself," you must use the invariable form själva placed directly before the noun. You would use själv (or its inflected forms) when it means "alone" or "by oneself," like in "han åkte skateboard själv" (he skateboarded by himself).
Does själva always require the definite form of the noun?
Yes! When själva is used to mean "the actual," the noun that follows it must always be in its definite form. That is why we use skejtaren (the skater) rather than the indefinite form en skejtare.
How does the loanword skejtare form its definite version skejtaren?
Swedish borrows the English verb as att skejta and turns it into a person by adding the standard -are suffix to make en skejtare. For -are nouns, the definite singular drops the final -e before adding the -n ending. So, skejtare + -n becomes skejtaren.
Why is the definite form of creativity kreativiteten?
Abstract nouns ending in the suffix -itet (which usually match English words ending in "-ity") are almost always en-words in Swedish. To make en kreativitet definite, you simply add the standard -en suffix, giving us kreativiteten.
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