Breakdown of Tidningen brann, men vem hade avsiktligt bränt korsordet?
tidningen
the newspaper
vem
who
ha
to have
men
but
brinna
to burn
bränna
to burn (something)
avsiktligt
intentionally
korsordet
the crossword puzzle
Questions & Answers about Tidningen brann, men vem hade avsiktligt bränt korsordet?
Why does the sentence use two different words, brann and bränt, for "burned"?
This sentence perfectly contrasts an intransitive strong verb with its transitive weak counterpart. brann is the past tense of brinna, a Group 4 strong verb meaning "to be on fire" (intransitive). It follows the Ablaut vowel shift i-a-u (brinna, brann, brunnit). bränt is the supine form of bränna, a weak verb meaning "to set fire to something" (transitive). The newspaper itself burned (brann), but someone actively burned (bränt) the crossword.
Why is it bränt and not brände if the English translation says "burned"?
The English translation uses the simple past "burned" for both verbs, but the Swedish sentence says hade ... bränt (had burned). bränt is the supine form of bränna, used here with the auxiliary verb hade to form the past perfect tense. If it were just "who intentionally burned...", it would be the simple past tense brände (vem brände avsiktligt korsordet?).
Why is avsiktligt placed directly between hade and bränt?
In Swedish main clauses, sentence adverbs like avsiktligt (intentionally) usually go right after the first conjugated verb. Since this is an interrogative main clause with vem as the subject, the adverb sits snugly between the auxiliary verb hade and the non-finite verb bränt.
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