Breakdown of Jag försökte tyda texten i flaskposten.
jag
I
i
in
försöka
to try
texten
the text
flaskposten
the message in a bottle
tyda
to decipher
Questions & Answers about Jag försökte tyda texten i flaskposten.
Why use tyda here instead of just saying läsa (to read)?
While läsa means "to read" in a general sense, tyda means "to decipher," "to interpret," or "to make out." You use tyda when a text is physically difficult to read, which makes perfect sense for a weathered message in a bottle.
I've learned that infinitives usually need att (to). Why is it just försökte tyda and not försökte att tyda?
The verb försöka (to try) is one of several verbs that can take an infinitive directly without the infinitive marker att. While försökte att tyda is also grammatically correct, dropping the att is extremely common and sounds more natural in everyday Swedish.
How is the compound word flaskposten constructed?
It is a compound of flaska (bottle) and post (mail or post). Notice how the -a in flaska is dropped to form the connecting root flask-. The ending -en makes it definite, literally translating to "the bottle mail".
What is the past tense of tyda if I wanted to say "I deciphered the text"?
You would say Jag tydde texten. Tyda is a Group 3 verb (short verbs whose root ends in a vowel). Its principal parts are tyda (infinitive), tyder (present), tydde (past), and tytt (supine).
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