Breakdown of Polisen varnar för att köttet tros vara förgiftat.
vara
to be
köttet
the meat
för
for, to
polisen
the police officer
att
that
varna
to warn
tros
to be believed
förgiftad
poisoned
Questions & Answers about Polisen varnar för att köttet tros vara förgiftat.
Why do we use tros vara here without the infinitive marker att?
In Swedish, passive verbs of cognition and reporting like tros (is believed), anses (is considered), and sägs (is said) connect directly to a bare infinitive. You must drop the infinitive marker att before vara in this construction, which is a formal structure often used in news and reports.
Why is there a för before att in varnar för att?
The verb varna (to warn) pairs with the preposition för to mean warn about or warn against. Unlike English, Swedish usually keeps the preposition even when the object of the verb is a subordinate att-clause (that-clause).
Why does the word förgiftat end in a -t?
Förgiftat is the past participle of förgifta (to poison) and it functions like an adjective here. It must agree with the subject of its specific clause, which is köttet (the meat). Because kött is a neuter ett-word, the participle takes the -t ending.
Could I rewrite the subordinate clause to avoid the tros vara construction?
Yes, if you want to avoid the passive infinitive, you could use a regular active subordinate clause with man (one/people), such as Polisen varnar för att man tror att köttet är förgiftat. However, the tros vara construction used in this sentence is much more concise and natural for a police warning.
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