Question 1

Since this lesson covers sådana, how would I rephrase the end to say '...because they are such disappointed viewers'?

Accepted Answer

You would say ...därför att de är sådana besvikna tittare. Notice that sådana acts as 'such', agreeing with the plural noun tittare, while the adjective besviken takes its plural form besvikna.

Question 2

Why is there an s in the middle of tittarsiffrorna?

Accepted Answer

It is a linking -s- used to join words in a compound noun. When joining tittare (viewer) and siffrorna (the numbers), the final -e of tittare is dropped and an -s- is added to make the word flow better: tittarsiffrorna.

Question 3

Could I use eftersom or för att instead of därför att?

Accepted Answer

Eftersom and därför att both mean 'because', but därför att places more emphasis on the reason as new information, while eftersom often introduces a reason the listener already knows. För att is widely used for 'because' in spoken Swedish, but in strict writing, it means 'in order to'.

Question 4

I always confuse sjunker with sänker. How do I know which one to use here?

Accepted Answer

Sjunker (to sink/go down) is intransitive, meaning the subject does it on its own—the numbers are going down by themselves. Sänker (to lower) is transitive and requires an object, meaning someone is actively bringing something down, like de sänker priset (they are lowering the price).

Question 5

Why does besvikna end in -na instead of just adding an -a?

Accepted Answer

It is the plural form of the adjective besviken (disappointed). Adjectives ending in -en drop the -e- before adding the plural -a, so besviken becomes besvikna to agree with the plural subject tittarna.

Tittarsiffrorna sjunker därför att tittarna är besvikna.

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