General
The adjectival phrase is a phrase with an adjective as its head. When there is no modifier, the head constitutes the whole phrase, as in (1). Examples with various kinds of modifiers are given in (2):
(1) The lane is green. He is ridiculous. This book is cheaper.
(2) She was quite happy. I am afraid of dogs. John is like his father. I’m sure he will be late.
I saw a very attractive girl.
When the adjectival phrase contains a modifier, this is usually a degree element (3), some other type of adverbial (4), a prepositional complement (5) or an object (6):
(3) He is very friendly. It is quite cheap. He was rather annoyed. He is a bit angry.
(5) My wife is afraid of dogs. She is dangerous to herself.
(6) He is like his father. This dress is worth 500 US $.
Most adjective phrases can be used as attributes (premodifiers of nouns) and predicatives, acting as complements of verbs.
(7) She is a very dilligent person. My daughter is very dilligent.
The adjective phrase can also function as a free predicative (8a) or as an adverbial (8b); in English, the ending -ly is usually attached to the adjective in this case:
(8) a. She looked quite happy. We found it absolutely delightful. I feel terrible sorry for her.
b. The police worked very slowly. He ran quitely. The train arrived too early.
Swedish
The Swedish adjectival phrase can consist of a single adjective (1), or in addition a modifying degree element (2), some other kind of modifying adverbial (3), a prepositional complement (4), an object (5). Several kinds of modifiers may be combined in a single adjectival phrase (6).
(1) Hon är vacker. Han var försvunnen. En liten fågel sjöng vackert i trädgården.
she is beautiful he was disappeared a little bird sang beautifully in garden.the
(2) Anna är mycket glad. Hon var 25 år gammal. en helt vanlig söndag
Anna is very happy she was 25 years old a quite ordinary Sunday
(3) en vackert röd nyans Hon var överlägset bäst. Han är stark som en björn.
a beautifully red color she was superiorly best he is strong as a bear
(4) Detta är pinsamt för mig. Han var lojal mot vännerna. Han är kritisk till hennes förslag.
this is awkward for me he was loyal to friends.the he is critical to her proposal
(5) Han var trogen sin hustru. Hon är dig överlägsen. Han är inte värd något.
he was faithful his wife she is you superior he is not worth anything
Adjectival phrases are often used in comparative constructions, in which case the basis for the comparison usually must be expressed in the complement of the adjective:
(6) a. Han är lika lång som Erik.
he is like tall as Erik, (i.e. He is as tall as Erik.)
b. Han är längre än Erik.
he is longer than Erik
c. Han är längst av pojkarna. Han är längst i klassen.
he is longest of boys.the he is longest in class.the
Most adjective phrases can be used as premodifiers of nouns (attributes) and as complements of verbs (predicatives). In these functions there is concord between the the adjective and the modified noun in number (SG, PL) and gender (common gender, CG or neuter gender, NG):
(7) Mannen var vänlig. Det var en vänlig man.
man.the was friendly.CG/SG. It was a friendly.CG/SG man
(8) Älgarna gick tysta över vägen.
mooses.the walked silent.PL over road.the
The adjective phrase can also function as an adverbial. In this case, the head adjective is in neuter singular, which always ends in -t in Swedish (corresponding to English -ly).
(9) Älgarna gick tyst över vägen.
mooses.the walked silently over road.the
2.3.1. Adjectival Phrase Word Order
Swedish
In addition to the adjectival head, a Swedish adjectival phrase may contain different kinds of modifiers. The order of head and modifiers is dependent on the syntactic use of the adjectival phrase: there is one scheme for adjectival phrases that functions as a predicative or adverbial, and another scheme for adjectival phrases that functions as adjective attribute.
2.3.1.1. The adjectival phrase functions as a predicative or as an adverbial
The adjectival phrase can have modifiers both before and after the adjective. Immediately before the adjective are placed adverbials of degree (1a), and manner adverbials (1b):
(1) a. Han är mycket rik. Framförandet av Hamlet var helt magnifikt Hur tung är den?
he is very rich performance.the of Hamlet was quite magnificent how heavy is it
b. Han var skrämmande energisk
he was frightingly energetic
There is a second adverbial position in front of the one illustrated in (1), where various kinds of free adverbials are placed:
(2) Han var tidvis mycket effektiv. Avtalet verkar juridiskt abolut hållbart.
he was at-times very effective agreement.the seems juridically absolutely tenable
There is an object position in front of the two adverbial positions:
(3) Hon är mig mer främmande än förr. Han var sin motståndare helt överlägsen.
she is me more strange than before he was his opponent totally superior
An object may also be placed immediately after the adjective:
(4) Han var helt överlägsen sin motståndare.
he was totally superior his opponent
The adjective skyldig, which is translated with the verb ‘owe’ in English, can take both an indirect and a direct object, in that order; the indirect object may also occur in the preadjectival object position:
(5) a. Han var skyldig henne en förmögenhet.
he owed her a fortune
b. Han var henne skyldig en ursäkt.
he was her owed an excuse
He owed her an excuse.
It is not the case that all objects that appear in the preadjectival position also may occur postadjectival. This is e.g. not possible with the adjective främmande ‘strange’ in (3).
(6) *Hon är mer främmande mig än förr.
she is more strange me than before
In (6) the object must be preceded by a preposition: Hon är mer främmande för mig än förr.
Finally, there is an adverbial position to the right of the postadjectival object position:
(7) Min dotter är lik mig till utseendet. Bilen är olämplig för långfärder.
my daughter is like me to appearance.the car.the is unsuitable for long-distance-trips
It is to be observed that phrases that are placed in the final adverbial position cannot occur in any pre-adjectival position:
(8) *Bilen är för långfärder olämplig.
car.the is for long-distance-trips unsuitable
The following scheme summarizes the possible word orders for adjectival
phrases used predicatively or as adverbial:
| Ex. | Obj. | Advbial | Advbial | Adjective (head) | Object | Adverbial |
| (1a) | mycket
very |
rik
rich |
||||
| (2a) | juridiskt
juridically |
absolut
absolutely |
hållbar
tenable |
|||
| (3) | mig
me |
numera
now |
mer
more |
främmande
strange |
än förr
than previously |
|
| (4) | helt
totally |
överlägsen
superior |
sin motståndare
his opponent |
|||
| (7) | olämplig
unsuitable |
för långfärder
for long-distance-trips |
2.3.1.2. The adjectival phrase functions as a prenominal attribute
When used attributively, the Swedish adjective phrase must end with the head, i.e. in this use there are no postadjectival positions. The order of elements in front of the adjective is the same as when the adjective phrase is used predicatively.
There is a position for adverbials of degree and manner adverbials immediately to the left of the adjective, as illustrated in (9), Free adverbials, including the negation and other sentence adverbials, are placed to the left of this adveribal position, as in (10):
(9) en mycket rik man, det fullständigt magnifika framförandet
a very rich man the totally magnificent.DET performance.the
(10) a. ett juridiskt absolut hållbart avtal
a juridically absolutely tenable agreement
b. en inte särskilt läsbar roman detta kanske onödiga påpekande
a not particularily readable novel this maybe unnecessary.DEF remark
The object of the adjectival clause is placed in front of the two adveribal positions, as shown in (11):
(11) den sin motståndare helt överlägsne svensken
the his opponent totally superior.DET Swede
Phrases that occur in the final adverbial position when the adjectival phrase is used predicatively may sometimes be placed in front of the adjective when the adjectival phrase is attributively used:
(12) en [för långfärder helt olämplig] bil
a for long-distance-trips totally unsuitable car
When the adjective is used to compare things, the basis for the comparison is usually expressed in the complement of the adjective. A phrase expressing the basis for the comparison may not occur to the left of the adjective when the adjective phrase is used attributively:
(13) a. Pojken är längre än flickan. *den än flickan längre pojken
boy.the is longer than girl.the the than girl.the longer boy
b. Pojken är längst i klassen. *den i klassen längste pojken
boy.the is longest in class.the the in class.the longest.DEF boy.the
The following scheme summarizes the possible word orders for adjectival
phrases used predicatively or as adverbial:
| Ex. | Object | Adverbial | Adverbial | Adjective |
| (9) | mycket
very |
rik
rich |
||
| (10) | juridiskt
juridically |
absolut
absolutely |
hållbart
tenable |
|
| (11) | sin motståndare
his opponent |
helt
totally |
överlägsne
superior |
|
| (12) | för långfärder
for long-distance-trips |
helt
totally |
olämplig
unsuitable |
Swedish
When a comparison is expressed, the standard against which the comparison is made is usually added as a postmodifying phrase.
2.3.2.1. Equal comparisons
For an equal comparison, i.e. when we e.g. compare two persons of the same heigh, Swedish uses lika Adjective som ‘as Adjective as’ or inte Adjective-are än ‘not Adjective-er than’:
(1) a. Anna är lika lång som Eva (är). Jag är lika överlägsen honom som du (är).
Anna is as long as Eva is I am as superior him as you are
b. Anna är inte längre än Eva. Jag är inte mer överlägsen honom än du (är)
‘ Anna is not longer than Eva I am not more superior him than you are
2.3.2.2. Unequal comparisons
When the things compared are differnt, the comparative form of the adjective is used. The postmodifying phrase indicating the standard against which the comparison is made is introduced by än ‘than’:
(2) Eva är längre än Bo. Jag är räddare för katter än du. Jag är mer rädd för hundar än du.
Eva is taller than Bo I am afraider of cats than you I am more afraid of dogs than you
2.3.2.3. Comparative and superlative
When comparing only two things, the comparative form is used (3a), whereas the superlative is used when more than two objects are compared. The objects that are compared are introduced in a postmodifying prepositional phrase beginning with av ‘of’ or bland ‘among’:
(3) Eva är den kortare av flickorna. Lisa är den kortaste (av dem) Lisa är kortast av dem
Eva is the shorter of girls.the Lisa is the shortest of them Lisa is shortest of them
The standard with which the comparison is made is indicated by a prepositional phrase with i ‘in’:
(4) Anna är den äldsta flickan i klassen. Detta var det värsta ögonblicken i mitt liv.
Anna is the oldest girl.the in class.the this was the worst moment.the in my life
2.3.2.4. Comparison with a definite norm
Sometimes a comparison is made between an object and a definite standard or norm understood in context. In such cases Swedish often uses så ‘so’ to refer to the standard:
(5) a. Johan måste vara två meter lång. Nej, han är längre än så.
Johan must be two meters tall no he is taller than that
b. Johan måste vara två meter lång. Är han så lång!?
Johan must be two meters tall is he that tall
2.3.2.5. Sufficiency and excess
The words tillräckligt ‘enough’ and alltför ‘too’ are used to indicate sufficiency and excess. The norm to which these words refer can be indicated by an infinitive clause introduced by för att.
(6) a. Han är tillräckligt rik för att resa.
he is enough rich for to go
b. Han är alltför rik för att resa.
he is too rich for to go
Tillräckligt may also occur after the adjective; in this case no för att-clause is possible.
(7) Han är rik tillräckligt.
he is rich enough
General
The adverb phrase is a phrase with an adverb as its head. Very often there is no other element in the phrase, She runs quickly, He was always late. When a modifier appears, it is usually an adverb of degree or a manner adverbial: She runs very quickly. Some adverbs may also take prepositional or clausal complements, as in (1):
(1) They live far away from everyone.
The adverb phrase usually function as an adverbial, modifying verbs, adjectives, participles and adverbs, but occasionally also a noun:
(2) He is singing loudly. He is often sad. He was almost
dead. The dinner here is quite good.
2.4.1. Adverb Phrase Word Order
Swedish
As in other languages, most adverb phrases in Swedish just consists
of the head. When modifiers are added, the structure of the modifiers determines
their placement to a high degree. In front of the adverb head are placed
modifying adjective phrases, långt borta ‘longly away’
= far away, participial phrases, utsökt väl ‘exquisitely
well’, and adverb phrases, ganska ofta ‘rather often’, whereas
prepositional phrases mest av alla ‘most of all’, comparative
phrases oftare än han ‘often-more than he’ and modifiers
with clauses or infinitival phrases så att fönstret öppnades
‘so that window.the opened.PASS’ This is illustrated
in the following scheme
| premodifier | adverb head | postmodifier |
| högst 'very' | sällan 'seldom' | |
| långt 'far' | borta 'away' | i skogen 'in forest.the' |
| mycket 'much' | mera 'more' | än tidigare 'than earlier' |
| exakt 'just' | så 'so' | som han gör 'as he does' |
| fort 'fast' | som vinden 'as wind.the' |
Swedish
The adverb phrase is prototypically an adverbial (1); it also appears as attribute (2)
(1) a. Hon sprang mycket fort.
she ran very fast
b. Han har bott utomlands i flera år.
he has lived abroad in several years
c. Hon är tillsammans med sina vänner.
she is together with her friends
d. Nu har han troligen kommit hem.
now has he probably come home
e. Också den här vägen går rakt västerut.
also this here way goes straight west-out
f. Han var rätt (så) intelligent.
he was quite so intelligent
He was quite intelligent
(2) a. Klimatet där var ganska besvärande.
climate.the there was quite troublesome
b. Detta hus långt ute på landsbygden älskade han mycket.
this house far out on countryside.the loved he much
General
The prepositional phrase is a phrase with a preposition as its head. Prototypically it consists of the preposition and complement of the preposition (object of the preposition), usually a noun phrase: at my house, behind the curtain, during the last hours, for his sake, in your bed, on the table, to our next meeting, under the mountains, with him. The preposition precedes its complement in all the Germanic languages; occasionally, though, usually in frozen expressions, the preposition follows its complement: the world over,
Syntactically the prepositional phrase usually functions as an adverbial (1) or attribute (2), but it may also occur as a predicative (3):
(1) a. He will arrive in time.
b. Behind the curtain you will find a black box.
c. He may, in principle, agree.
(2) a. A portrait of my wife was hanging on the wall.
b. I have just bought a house with two chimneys.
(3) This must be of interest to you
In examples like (4) the prepositional phrase functions more or less as a subject:
(4) Under the table is a good hiding place.
In languages with case, the preposition usually selects a particular case for its object; consider the Icelandic examples in (5):
(5) a. Ég skil á milli ßeirra.
I distinguish between them.GEN
b. Ég skil vi?ßig.
I divorce with you.ACC
’I divorce you.
c. Hann synti undir brúna.
he swam under the bridge.ACC
He swam from here to the bridge.
b. Hann synti undir brúnni.
he swam under the bridge.DAT
He was swimming under the bridge.
In case poor languages like English, Dutch and the mainland Scandinavian languages, a pronominal noun phrase being the complement of a preposition must be in its non-subject form (non-nominative):
(6) behind me, in front of him, with them
In some of the Germanic languages the preposition may be stranded, i.e. it may appear at the end of the clause lacking a complement; usually the complement is found as the first element of the clause:
(7) Who was he thinking of?
Swedish
The Swedish preposition usually takes a noun phrese as its complement (1a), but it may also take a subordinate clause (1b) or an infinitival phrase (1c); other possibilities are listed in 2.5.2.
(1) a. på stranden, i skolan, under lektionen, med tåget
on beach.the in school.the under class.the with train.the
b. beslutet om att skatten skulle höjas
decision.the of that tax.the should be-increased
c. beslutet att höja skatten
decision.the to increase tax.the
Swedish belongs to the Germanic languages that allow preposition stranding of all kinds of noun phrase complements:
(2) a. Vem tänker han på?
who thinks he of
Who does he think of?
b. Den mannen vill jag inte tala med.
that man.the want I not speak with
That man, I do not want to talk to him.
2.5.1. Prepositional Phrase Word Order
As in all Germanic languages, the Swedish preposition precedes its complement: av gammal vana ‘of old habit’, bakom trädet ‘behind tree.the’, bland andra ‘among others’, bredvid mig ‘beside me’, efter middagen ‘after dinner.the’, enligt honom ‘according-to him’, framför huset ‘in-front-of house.the’, från kusten ‘from coast.the’, för tre kronor ‘for three crowns’, genom staden ‘through city.the’ hos min mor ‘at my mother’s (place)’, i koppen ‘in cup.the’, innan middagen ‘before dinner.the’, kring huset ‘around house.the’, längs stranden ‘along shore.the’, med sin bror ‘with his brother’, mot staden ‘towards city.the’, om armen ‘around arm.the’, ovanför gatan ‘above street.the’, på bordet ‘on table.the’, runt mig ‘around me’, sedan jul ‘since Christmas’, till affären ‘to shop.the’, trots hans ilska ‘despite his anger’, under bordet ‘under table.the’, ur skogen ‘out-of wood.the’, vid kyrkan ‘at church.the’, över vattnet ‘over water.the’.
Occasionally, the preposition follows its complement. Certain prepositions are optionally placed behind their complement when they have a particular meaning or in lexicalized constructions:
(1) a. man och man emellan; det stannar oss emellan
man and man between it remains us between
as one man to another it remains strictly between ourselves
b. året runt resa jorden runt
year.the round travel earth.the round
all the year round travel round the world
In addition to the preposition and its complement, a prepositional phrase may sometimes contain a modifier. This is placed in front of the preposition.
(2) långt från mig inte mycket över femtio tre meter från dig mitt framför mig
far from me not much over fifty three meters from you right in-front-of me
The complement of a preposition is usually a noun phrase. All kinds of noun phrases may function as the complement of a preposition.
(1) av gammal vana, i stolen, bakom mig, med Eva, söder om Rom, runt henne
of old habit in chair.the behind me with Eva south of Rome around her
(2) Med vilken penna skrev du detta?
with which pen wrote you this
With which pen did you write this?
When the property expressed by the noun is highlighted, naked noun phrases occur as the complement of a preposition:
(3) med tåg, på universitetsnivå
with train at university-level
Swedish prepositions also take subordinate clauses as their complements:
(4) a. Detta är ett tecken på att de vill förhandla.
this is a sign on that they want-to negotiate’
This is an indication that they want to negotiate.
b. Han funderade på om hon var den rätta för honom.
he pondered on if she was the right-one for him
c. Artikeln hade betydelse för vem han skulle förelå.
article.the had importance for who he would suggest
d. De ville inte prata om vad som hade hänt.
they wanted not talk about what that had happened
In addition, the complement of a preposition may be an infinitival phrase, an adjective phrase, a participle phrase, a prepositional phrase or an adverb phrase:
(5) a. Vi har bestämt oss för att resa till Rom i höst.
we have decided us for to go to Rome in fall
We have decided to go to Rome this fall.
b. Han ansågs för ganska intelligent.
he was-considered for rather intelligent
c. Hon förklarades för häktad.
she was-declared for arrested
She was placed under formal arrest.
d. Han har bott här sedan i januari. Den här tidningen är från före kriget.
he has lived here since in January this here newspaper.the is from before war.the
e. Sedan när har du börjat röka?
since when have you begun to-smoke
In languages with productive case, prepositions govern non-nominative cases. In Swedish, where only pronouns show case, pronoun occur in the non-nominative form when following a preposition:
(1) av honom, bredvid mig, under henne, framför oss, till er, över sig
by him next-to me under her in-front-of us, to you over self.REFL
After the prepositions förutom ‘besides’ and utom ‘except’ the complement may occur in nominative case when the noun phrase is interpreted as the subject of a truncated clause:
(2) a. Alla utom han/?honom är komna. Det fanns ingen i huset utom jag/?mig.
everybody except he/him have arrived there was nobody in house.the except I/me
b. Alla förutom hon/henne är komna.
everybody besides she/her have arrived
But in a case like Hon har kysst alla utom mig/*jag 'she has kissed everybody except me/I' is only the object-form is possible, since the complement is the object of the corresponding truncated clause.
Remnants of the old system where prepositions governed case are found in some more or less lexicalized prepositional phrases. Most of these consists of the preposition till ‘to’ + genitive of a naked noun (till skogs ‘to forest.GEN’), but as is shown below there are several other types as well:
in Sunday.GEN Monday:GEN, Tuesday:GEN
i N.GEN ställe i hans ställe ‘in his place’
d Other suffixes
-o av ondo ‘of evil.O ‘of evil’, till fullo ‘to full.O’ (to the full)
-e av Guds nåde ‘by God’s grace.E’ (by the Grace of God), gå man ur huse ‘go man out-of house.E’ (turn out to a man).
-om i andanom ‘in spirit,the.OM’ (in one’s mind’s eye), i sinom tid ‘in self.OM time’ (in due course of time)
Swedish prepositions may be stranded, i.e. the preposition is not immediately to the left of its complement. Usually, the complement is in first position.
(1) a. Den här stolen satt Johan på__ igår.
this here chair.the sat Johan on yesterday
b. Vem fick hon glassen av___?
who got she ice-cream.the of
Who gave her the ice-cream?
c. Henne stod jag bredvid__ under demonstrationen.
her stood I beside during demonstration.the
d. Vem trodde Lisa att Pelle har bett Anna att ringa till__?
who thought Lisa that Pelle has asked Anna to phone to
Who did Lisa think that Pelle has asked Anna to call?
e. Att få kyssa henne längtade han efter__.
to get kiss her longed he for
f. Att hon kunde älska honom tänkte han inte på__.
that she could love him thought he not of
The preposition may also be stranded when the complement is clefted:
(2) Det var henne jag tänkte på __
it was her I thought of
A stranded preposition occurs in a relative clause where the complement of the preposition corresponds to the head of the relative clause:
(3) Bilen som han åkte i__ fick motorstopp.
car.the that he went in got engine-stop
The car he went in stalled.
A particular case of preposition stranding is found in certain passive clauses, where the subject in the passive clause corresponds to the complement of the preposition in the corresponding active clause:
(4) Hon måste bytas blöja på__. Cf. Du måste byta blöja på henne.
she must be-changed napkin on You must change napkin on her
Swedish prepositional phrases function as adverbials (1), attributes (2) and predicative complements (3); in addition they may also be complements of prepositions (4), appositions (5) and (marginally) subjects (6).
(1) a. Jag bor i Lund, Anna bor i Hjärup och Marie bor i Malmö.
I live in Lund Anna lives in Hjärup and Marie lives is Malmoe
b. Han kommer med stor sannolikhet att resa till Reykjavík.
he comes with great probability to go to Reykjavík
He will very probably go to Reykjavík.
c. Sjön är täckt av is.
lake.the is covered by ice
(2) a. Ryktet om hans död är falskt.
rumour.the of his death is false
b. Hon har gift sig med en gammal vän till mig.
she has married self with an old freiend of my
(3) Vi utsåg henne till ordförande.
we appointed her to chairperson
(4) Han ska stanna till i morgon.
he will stay to tomorrow
(5) Med skjortan uppknäppt gick han in i rummet.
with shirt.the button-up-ed went he into room.the
(5) I Lund är underbart.
in Lund is wonderful