Breakdown of Rusningstrafiken brukar vara värre före klockan åtta.
vara
to be
klockan
the clock
åtta
eight
bruka
to usually do
värre
worse
före
before (preposition, + noun or time)
rusningstrafiken
the rush hour traffic
Questions & Answers about Rusningstrafiken brukar vara värre före klockan åtta.
How would I ask 'At what time is the rush hour traffic usually worse?' using the phrase taught in this lesson?
You would ask: Hur dags brukar rusningstrafiken vara värre? While när means 'when' in a general sense, hur dags specifically asks for a precise time on the clock, making it the perfect question word to prompt an answer like före klockan åtta.
What are the parts of the compound word rusningstrafiken?
It consists of rusning (rush or surge) and trafiken (the traffic), joined by the linking letter -s-. You will also often see rusning in the closely related word rusningstid (rush hour).
Could I use innan instead of före here?
In modern colloquial Swedish, many native speakers use innan and före interchangeably before nouns, so innan klockan åtta is common and understood. Traditionally and in formal writing, however, före is a preposition used before nouns (like klockan åtta), while innan is a conjunction used before a full clause with a subject and verb.
The English translation says 'is usually', but the Swedish sentence uses brukar vara. Why not use an adverb like vanligtvis?
Using the auxiliary verb brukar (to be in the habit of doing something) followed by an infinitive is the most natural way to express 'usually' in Swedish. You could grammatically say Rusningstrafiken är vanligtvis värre, but brukar vara is significantly more common and idiomatic.
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