Breakdown of Det gamla hotellet blev förstört i en brand och anses vara hemsökt.
vara
to be
en
a, an (common)
och
and
i
in
gammal
old
det
the (with ett-words)
bli
to become
hotellet
the hotel
branden
the fire
förstörd
destroyed
anses
to be considered
hemsökt
haunted
Questions & Answers about Det gamla hotellet blev förstört i en brand och anses vara hemsökt.
Why is there no att before vara in anses vara?
With passive verbs of reporting and cognition like anses (is considered), sägs (is said), or påstås (is claimed), Swedish uses a bare infinitive. You place the infinitive vara directly after the passive verb. This is similar to the English structure "is considered to be," but you must drop the Swedish equivalent of "to" (att).
Could I use förstördes instead of blev förstört here?
Yes, förstördes (the s-passive) is grammatically correct and means the same thing. However, using bli plus a past participle (blev förstört) places slightly more emphasis on the sudden transition or the final result of the event, which sounds very natural when describing a building abruptly ruined in a fire.
Why do both förstört and hemsökt end in -t?
They are both past participles acting as adjectives that describe the main subject, Det gamla hotellet. Because hotell is a neuter ett-word, both participles must take the neuter -t ending to agree with it, even though hemsökt appears much later in the sentence.
Why is the preposition i used in i en brand rather than av (by)?
Even though the hotel was technically destroyed "by" the fire in a passive sense, Swedish conventionally uses i (in) when referring to destructive events, storms, or accidents. Just as you would say someone was injured i en olycka (in an accident), a building is destroyed i en brand (in a fire).
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