Breakdown of Kungen anses veta sanningen om vandringssägnen.
veta
to know (facts, information)
om
about
sanningen
the truth
kungen
the king
vandringssägnen
the urban legend
anses
to be considered
Questions & Answers about Kungen anses veta sanningen om vandringssägnen.
Why is it anses veta and not anses att veta?
Passive verbs of reporting and thinking like anses (is considered), sägs (is said), and påstås (is claimed) are followed directly by a bare infinitive without the infinitive marker att. This is a very common structure in formal Swedish and perfectly matches the English format 'is considered to know'.
Could this sentence be rewritten using an att (that) clause?
Yes! While anses veta is elegant and common in news or formal contexts, you can express the exact same meaning with an att-clause: Man anser att kungen vet sanningen (People consider that the king knows...) or Det anses att kungen vet sanningen (It is considered that the king knows...).
What is the base word for vandringssägnen, and why does its spelling change slightly here?
The base word is en vandringssägen, a compound of vandring (wandering) and sägen (tale/legend) meaning an urban legend. When adding the definite suffix -en, the unstressed e in -sägen drops out to make pronunciation smoother, resulting in vandringssägnen instead of the clunky 'vandringssägenen'.
Is anses used in everyday casual conversation?
It is heavily used in news, literature, and documentaries, but it can sound a bit stiff in casual speech. In everyday conversation, a Swede is more likely to use an active phrasing like Folk tror att kungen vet... (People think the king knows...) or Man brukar säga att kungen vet... (People usually say that the king knows...).
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