Word
Löste du korsordet vågrätt eller lodrätt?
Meaning
Did you solve the crossword puzzle horizontally or vertically?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Löste du korsordet vågrätt eller lodrätt?
du
you (singular)
eller
or
lösa
to solve
korsordet
the crossword puzzle
Questions & Answers about Löste du korsordet vågrätt eller lodrätt?
How do the words vågrätt (horizontally) and lodrätt (vertically) literally translate?
They are highly descriptive compounds ending in the adjective rät (straight). Vågrätt comes from en våg (a wave or a balancing scale), essentially meaning "straight as the water's surface." Lodrätt comes from ett lod (a plumb line or weight used by builders), meaning "straight down like a plumb bob."
Why do vågrätt and lodrätt have a double -tt ending in this sentence?
In this sentence, they are acting as adverbs describing how the action was performed. The base adjectives are vågrät and lodrät. To form an adverb in Swedish, you add a -t to the adjective. Adding -t to a word already ending in a single t results in the double -tt spelling.
Is löste (solved) one of the Group 4 strong verbs we are studying in this lesson?
No, lösa (to solve) is a regular Group 2b weak verb. Unlike the Group 4 strong verbs in this lesson that use vowel gradation (ablaut) to change their core vowel in the past tense (like bära becoming bar), lösa keeps its root vowel and simply adds the -te suffix to become löste.
Why does the sentence use the definite form korsordet?