Breakdown of Hon erbjöds prissumman av juryn.
hon
she
av
of, by / from (cause)
erbjuda
to offer
prissumman
the prize money
Questions & Answers about Hon erbjöds prissumman av juryn.
Why does the sentence start with hon (she) instead of henne (her), since the jury offered the money to her?
This sentence uses a recipient passive. When a verb takes two objects (like offering someone a prize), Swedish allows you to turn the recipient into the subject of a passive sentence. Just like in English ("She was offered..."), the object henne (her) is promoted to the subject pronoun hon (she).
Could I say Hon blev erbjuden prissumman instead of using the s-passive erbjöds?
Yes, you can! Both forms are grammatically correct and mean exactly the same thing. The s-passive (erbjöds) is very common in written, journalistic, or formal Swedish, which fits the official context of a jury awarding a prize. Blev erbjuden sounds a bit more everyday and conversational.
How does the word prissumman break down?
It is a compound noun made of pris (prize or price) and summan (the sum or amount). Notice that the second part comes from the root word en summa; because it ends in a vowel, it forms its definite version by simply adding an -n.
Why is the definite form of the agent written as juryn rather than juryen?