Breakdown of De slog vad om vem som skulle komma först.
de
they
vem
who
komma
to come
först
first
om
about
som
who / which / that (relative pronoun)
skulle
would
slå vad
to make a bet
Questions & Answers about De slog vad om vem som skulle komma först.
Why does the sentence use slog vad to mean "made a bet"?
The phrase slå vad is a common expression meaning "to bet" or "to make a wager." Here it is in the past tense (slog). When stating what the bet is about, you add the preposition om.
Why is the word som added after vem?
When a question word like vem (who) or vad (what) acts as the subject of an embedded or indirect question, Swedish requires you to add som. Because "who" is the one doing the arriving here, it is the subject, so we must say vem som.
Why is skulle used here to mean "would"?
Skulle is the past tense of ska (will). We use it here to express the "future in the past" — an event that was in the future at the exact moment they made the bet. It maps perfectly to English "would" in this context.
Can I use anlända instead of komma for "arrive"?
You could, but anlända is quite formal and is mostly used for trains, flights, or official arrivals. In everyday Swedish, komma (to come) is the most natural way to express arriving somewhere in this kind of situation.
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