Breakdown of Jag var tvungen att acceptera månadskostnaden snarare än avsluta abonnemanget.
jag
I
än
than
acceptera
to accept
vara tvungen att
to have to
avsluta
to end
abonnemanget
the subscription
snarare
rather
månadskostnaden
the monthly cost
Questions & Answers about Jag var tvungen att acceptera månadskostnaden snarare än avsluta abonnemanget.
Why is avsluta in the infinitive form here?
This is because of the parallel structure required by snarare än (rather than). It compares two actions. The first action is acceptera (accept), which is in the infinitive form because it follows att. Therefore, the second action, avsluta (cancel), must match it and also be in the infinitive.
Could I add att and say ...snarare än att avsluta...?
Yes, that is grammatically correct. However, because the two verbs share the exact same relationship to the earlier part of the sentence (var tvungen att), you can safely drop the second att. Leaving it out is very common and makes the sentence flow more smoothly.
Why use var tvungen att for "had to" instead of måste?
While måste (must/have to) is sometimes used in the past tense, Swedish strongly prefers using var tvungen att (literally "was forced to") to clearly show that the obligation happened in the past. Using måste in past contexts can sometimes sound ambiguous.
Why is there an s in the middle of månadskostnaden?
This is a connecting s (often called a fog-s). When combining words to make a compound noun, like månad (month) and kostnaden (the cost), an s is frequently used to glue them together, which makes the new word easier to pronounce.
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