Breakdown of Försäkringen täcker varken vattenskadan eller försumligheten.
eller
or
varken
neither
täcka
to cover
försäkringen
the insurance
vattenskadan
the water damage
försumligheten
the negligence
Questions & Answers about Försäkringen täcker varken vattenskadan eller försumligheten.
Why is there no inte (not) in this sentence, such as Försäkringen täcker inte varken...?
In Swedish, the phrase varken ... eller (neither ... nor) acts as the negation for the entire clause. Because of the negative concord constraint in standard Swedish, adding inte would create a grammatically incorrect double negative. You must use the affirmative verb täcker (covers) together with varken.
Why are vattenskadan (the water damage) and försumligheten (the negligence) in the definite form, when English would usually just say "water damage" and "negligence"?
Swedish uses definite forms for abstract nouns and uncountable concepts much more frequently than English does. When referring to concepts like damage or negligence in a specific context (like a specific insurance policy's terms), Swedish strongly prefers adding the definite suffixes.
How is the word försumligheten constructed?
It stems from the verb försumma (to neglect). The suffix -lig creates the adjective försumlig (negligent), and the suffix -het turns it into the noun försumlighet (negligence). Finally, the -en at the end is the definite suffix.
If I wanted to emphasize the damages and put Varken vattenskadan eller försumligheten at the start of the sentence, what happens to the word order?
The V2 (verb-second) rule applies. The entire varken ... eller block counts as the first position in the sentence, so the verb täcker must come immediately after it, followed by the subject: Varken vattenskadan eller försumligheten täcker försäkringen.
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