Breakdown of Den här galna historien sägs vara en känd vandringssägen.
vara
to be
en
a, an (common)
den här
this (en)
känd
famous
galen
crazy
historien
the story (also: history)
sägas
to be said
vandringssägnen
the urban legend
Questions & Answers about Den här galna historien sägs vara en känd vandringssägen.
Why is it just vara instead of att vara to mean "to be"?
This sentence uses a passive verb of reporting, sägs (is said). In Swedish, passive verbs of reporting and cognition—such as sägs, anses (is considered), and påstås (is claimed)—take a "bare infinitive." This means they connect directly to the next verb without the infinitive marker att.
Can I rewrite this sentence using the active voice?
Yes! Right now, it uses the s-passive verb sägs. If you want to use the active voice, you would introduce a subject like man (one/people) and you would have to change the structure back to a standard att-clause: Man säger att den här galna historien är en känd vandringssägen (People say that this crazy story is a famous urban legend).
Where does the word vandringssägen come from?
It is a compound word made up of vandring (wandering, journey) and sägen (legend, tale). Instead of using the word "urban", Swedish describes these modern myths as "wandering tales" because they travel rapidly from person to person.
Quick refresher: why do we use galna instead of galen here?
Because of the demonstrative pronoun den här (this). In Swedish, phrases starting with den här or den där trigger the "double definite" rule. You must use the definite form of the adjective (galna) alongside the definite form of the noun (historien).
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