Breakdown of Den ödmjuka nunnan har läst bönen sedan i morse.
läsa
to read
ha
to have
den
the (with en-words)
morse
morning (used in 'i morse', 'igår morse')
i
last (in past time expressions)
sedan
since (from a point in time)
nunnan
the nun
ödmjuk
humble
bönen
the prayer
Questions & Answers about Den ödmjuka nunnan har läst bönen sedan i morse.
Why does the Swedish sentence use har läst (has read) instead of a continuous form like in the English translation?
Swedish doesn't have a direct equivalent to the English present perfect continuous (has been reading). To express an action that started in the past and is still ongoing, Swedish uses the standard present perfect tense, har läst, paired with a time expression like sedan (since).
Is sedan acting as a preposition or a conjunction in this sentence?
Here, sedan acts as a preposition because it is followed by a fixed time phrase, i morse. If it were acting as a conjunction, it would introduce a full subordinate clause with a subject and a verb, such as sedan solen gick upp (since the sun came up).
Why do we say i morse instead of i morgon for morning?
I morse is a specific fixed expression meaning 'this morning' referring to the morning of the current day (which is either ongoing or just passed). I morgon, on the other hand, means 'tomorrow'. It is a common pitfall to mix these up!
Just to refresh, why does the adjective end in '-a' in Den ödmjuka nunnan?
This is the Swedish double definite rule. Because the noun is in its definite form (nunnan), any describing adjective must take its definite form, which almost always ends in -a (ödmjuka). You also must include the standalone definite article Den.
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