Breakdown of Det är antingen en ångande het bastu eller en isande kall sjö.
vara
to be
det
it (neuter)
en
a, an (common)
kall
cold
eller
or
sjön
the lake
antingen
either
bastun
the sauna
het
hot
isande
freezing
ångande
steaming
Questions & Answers about Det är antingen en ångande het bastu eller en isande kall sjö.
In ångande het and isande kall, do the words ångande and isande need to agree with the gender or number of the nouns?
No. Here, the present participles ångande (steaming) and isande (freezing) function as degree adverbs to intensify the adjectives het (hot) and kall (cold). Because they act as adverbs, their -ande form is completely fixed and never changes to match the noun.
Are combinations like ångande het and isande kall common, or can I invent my own present participle intensifiers?
While you can sometimes be creative, phrases like ångande het and isande kall are highly established collocations (set phrases) in Swedish, much like "steaming hot" and "freezing cold" in English. It is usually best to memorize these specific pairs as vocabulary items rather than combining participles and adjectives freely.
Why don't the adjectives het and kall take an -a at the end here?
Because they are modifying singular en words (en bastu and en sjö) in an indefinite context. If you were talking about a definite noun phrase, such as "the steaming hot sauna", the main adjective would take the -a ending while the participle stays fixed: den ångande heta bastun.
Does the phrase antingen ... eller ever change the word order?
It can, but not in this specific sentence. Here, it simply links two noun phrases. However, if you start a main clause with antingen, it takes up the first position and triggers the V2 (verb-second) rule, forcing the verb to come before the subject: Antingen är det en bastu... (Either it is a sauna...).
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