Page:A simplified grammar of the Swedish language.djvu/36

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18
SWEDISH GRAMMAR.

certain compound, and other, adjectives derived from a participle and ending in ad; as—

Sing., godhjertad, c. g., godhjertadt, n., good-hearted.
Plural for all genders, godhjertade,"

The "definite" or so-called "strong" form of the adjective is marked by the addition of a to the abstract form in the feminine and neuter singular and plural, while in regard to the masculine it must be borne in mind that the older specific termination e, which originally marked that gender, is still of frequent occurrence, as—

masculine. feminine and neuter.
Both
Numbers

goda, or gode, goda, good;
as, den gode (or goda) mannen, the good man.
den vackra blomman, 'the lovely (the) flower.'
det stora huset, 'the large (the) house.'
de ædle krigarne, 'the noble (the) warriors.'
de flitiga qvinnorna, 'the diligent (the) women
de ljusa bona, 'the light (the) dwellings.'

Here it will be observed that the noun has the terminal article, although the adjective qualifying it is preceded by the definite den. The double use of the article is, as already noticed, not to be found in Dano-Norwegian, in which the terminal article is not applicable to words defined by the independent article den, det, de.

This form is also used when the noun is in the genitive, or is preceded by a pronoun; as, konungens lyckliga regering, 'the king's happy reign;' min gamle vän, 'my old friend.'