Breakdown of Jag höll på att stänga kattluckan, men den måste vara öppen så länge vi är borta.
jag
I
vara
to be
vi
we
den
it (common)
måste
to have to, must
men
but
stänga
to close
borta
away, gone (location)
öppen
open
hålla på att
to almost do (averted action)
så länge
as long as
kattluckan
the cat flap
Questions & Answers about Jag höll på att stänga kattluckan, men den måste vara öppen så länge vi är borta.
The translation says "as long as". Could I include som and say så länge som vi är borta here?
Yes, you can. The phrases så länge and så länge som are interchangeable when used as a subordinating conjunction to mean "as long as" or "while". Dropping som is very common in everyday spoken and written Swedish, which is why it was left out here.
Doesn't hålla på att mean "to be in the middle of doing something"? Why is it translated as "almost closed"?
You are right that it normally describes an ongoing action. However, when you use hålla på att with a momentary verb—an action completed in a split second, like stänga (close), tappa (drop), or ramla (fall)—it takes on the meaning of "was about to" or "almost did". Here, jag höll på att stänga means "I almost closed" it before stopping myself.
Why do we use the en-word form öppen instead of the neutral öppet here?
The adjective öppen describes the pronoun den (it), which refers back to kattluckan (the cat flap). Because kattlucka is an en-word, the adjective must agree with its gender, so we use the non-neuter form öppen.
Why is it borta and not just bort for "away"?
In Swedish, adverbs of direction often have two forms: one for motion and one for location. Bort implies motion away from something (like moving away), while borta implies the stationary state of already being away. Since the sentence uses the verb är to describe a state (vi är borta), the location form borta is required.
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