Breakdown of Katten jagar möss i trädgården.
katten
the cat
trädgården
the garden
musen
the mouse
jaga
to hunt, to chase
Questions & Answers about Katten jagar möss i trädgården.
Why is the plural of "mouse" möss rather than taking a regular plural ending like -ar?
Mus is one of several older Germanic words that undergo a vowel change (mutation) in the plural, just like in English (mouse/mice). The vowel changes from 'u' to 'ö'. Another common example you will see is en lus (a louse), which becomes löss.
Why does möss have a double 's' when the singular mus only has one?
The double 's' tells you how to pronounce the vowel. In the singular mus, the 'u' is a long vowel. In the plural möss, the 'ö' is short. Swedish spelling rules generally double the following consonant to indicate that the preceding vowel is short.
Could jagar be translated as "is hunting" in this context?
Yes! Swedish lacks a direct equivalent to the English present continuous tense. Therefore, jagar covers both a general habit ("hunts") and an ongoing action ("is hunting"). If you really needed to stress that the cat is actively in the middle of a hunt right now, you could use the construction håller på att jaga (is in the process of hunting).
Trädgården is a compound word. Which part determines its gender and definite ending?
The final word in a Swedish compound always determines its gender and ending. Trädgård is made from ett träd (a tree) and en gård (a yard or farm). Because the final part is an en-word (en gård becomes gården in the definite form), the entire compound takes the -en ending, resulting in trädgården.
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