@nomechomath5644

7 months ago

Tjena! Swedish learner here. You might have noticed that, except for colors like "rosa" or "lila" (which seem like irregular adjectives), you always add an -a at the end when the noun is plural or definite. But what about -t? - Why blå and grå turn into blått and grått with double t? - Why svart stays the same? - Why röd turns into rött, transforming the d into a t? Well, I found a pattern when adding -t. However, I'm a beginner, so TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT: maybe it's not a real rule. The pattern is: "Add final t's until the word ends with 2 consonants" If we follow this pattern: - blå has 0 final consonants --> add 2 t's to end with double consonant --> we get blått - grå has 0 final consonants --> add 2 t's to end with double consonant --> we get grått - grön has 1 final consonant (n) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get grönt - gul has 1 final consonant (l) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get gult - vit has 1 final consonant (t) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get vitt - brun has 1 final consonant (n) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get brunt - röd has 1 final consonant (d) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get rödt** - svart has 2 final consonants (rt) --> actually, don't add t's, it already ends with double consonant --> we get svart **Well, no, actually it's rött, but it makes sense! On a technical note, "d" and "t" are very similar sounds, but "d" is a voiced consonant (your vocal chords vibrate when you pronounce "d"), whereas "t" is a voiceless consonant (they don't vibrate). Try it: put your hand on your throat and notice how it vibrates when you say "d", but it doesn't when you say "t". Well... when a voiced and a voiceless consonant meet, the voiced consonant "turns off", it becomes voiceless (it's called "assimilation", for the curious ones). The voiced consonant (d) turns into its voiceless version (also a t), so "rödt" sounds like "rött". In this case we actually write it as "rött" too. I don't know when exactly this happens ("dt" being written as "tt"), because I've seen words written with "dt" such as "Lindstedt" (Swedish lastname?), like in "Lindstedtsvägen" (Lindstedt's Road). If someone can explain I would be very grateful. You might have noticed this, but a side effect is that final long vowels become short: blå, grå, grön, vit, brun and röd have a long vowel. But when we add t's they become short vowels: blått, grått, grönt, vitt, brunt and rött all have short vowels instead. This is because the accent (previously on the vowel) is now transferred onto the double consonant. Svart, on the other hand, already ended with a double consonant and already had a short a because of it, so nothing happens to it. If any native Swedish speaker (or in general anyone with sufficient experience with Swedish) could confirm or correct this, I'd would be grateful. Meanwhile, I hope that you all like this piece of information :D

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