Breakdown of Den lilla katten dricker mjölk.
katten
the cat
dricka
to drink
mjölken
the milk
den
the (with en-words)
Questions & Answers about Den lilla katten dricker mjölk.
Why does the sentence use both den and katten to say "the"?
In Swedish, when a definite noun has an adjective describing it, you must use "double definiteness." You use the free-standing article den before the adjective, and you also keep the definite ending -en on the noun (katten). So it literally looks like "the little cat-the."
Why is the word for "little" written as lilla instead of liten?
Because the noun is in its definite form (it has "the" attached), the adjective must also take its definite form. For most adjectives, this just means adding an -a to the end. The word for "little" is a bit irregular, so liten changes to lilla when used with definite nouns.
How do we know if dricker means "drinks" or "is drinking"?
Swedish does not have a separate continuous tense (the "-ing" form) like English does. The single present tense verb dricker covers both "drinks" as a general habit and "is drinking" right at this moment. You just rely on the sentence's context to know which one makes sense.
Why is there no article before mjölk?
Just like in English, uncountable nouns (things you cannot easily count, like liquids) don't need an article when you are talking about an unspecified amount. Since the cat is just drinking milk in general, mjölk stands alone without en or ett.