Nunnan har känt frid sedan hon började meditera.
The nun has felt peace since she started meditating.
Breakdown of Nunnan har känt frid sedan hon började meditera.
hon
she
ha
to have
börja
to start
känna
to feel (sensation, emotion)
sedan
since (from a point in time)
nunnan
the nun
friden
the peace (inner peace, tranquility)
meditera
to meditate
Questions & Answers about Nunnan har känt frid sedan hon började meditera.
Why is the main clause in the present perfect (har känt) but the sedan clause in the past tense (började)?
This is the classic structure for ongoing states with sedan (since). The action of starting to meditate happened at a specific point in the past, so the sedan clause uses the past tense (började). The feeling of peace, however, started then and continues into the present, which requires the present perfect (har känt) in the main clause.
I thought the Swedish word for peace was fred. Why is frid used here?
Fred refers to peace between nations or the absence of war. Frid refers to inner, spiritual, or personal peace and tranquility. Since the nun is feeling a personal state of calm, frid is the correct word.
The verb känna (to feel) is often reflexive (känna sig). Why isn't it reflexive here?
You use the reflexive känna sig when it is followed by an adjective describing a state of being (for example, hon har känt sig lugn means she has felt calm). In this sentence, frid is a noun acting as a direct object, so you use the non-reflexive känna to mean experiencing or feeling a specific thing.
Why is there no att (to) before meditera?
The verb börja (to begin or start) is one of several Swedish verbs that can be followed directly by an infinitive without att. While började att meditera is grammatically correct, dropping the att is much more common and sounds more natural in everyday Swedish.
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