Swedish has many compound words. This is also the case in English and several other languages. Swedish compounds such as blåbär (blueberry) consist of the words blue blå (blue) and bär (berry). They are not modified. However, many Swedish compound words are. Here is a list of ten modified Swedish compound nouns:
bönegrupp (prayer group)
fiskekort (fishing licence)
gatubro (street bridge)
kvinnoarbete (women's work)
kyrkklocka (church bell)
nattetid (night time)
pennvässare (pencil sharpener)
skolbarn (school child)
stjärntecken (zodiac sign)
veckoslut (weekend)
Let us examine the individual words of each compound:
bönegrupp = bön (prayer) + grupp (group)
fiskekort = fisk (fish) + kort (card)
gatubro = gata (street) + bro (bridge)
kvinnoarbete = kvinna (woman) + arbete (work)
kyrkklocka = kyrka (church) + klocka (bell)
nattetid = natt (night) + tid (time)
pennvässare = penna (pencil) + vässare (sharpener)
skolbarn = skola (school) + barn (child)
stjärntecken = stjärna (star) + tecken (sign)
veckoslut = vecka (week) + slut (end)
Swedish compounds can be modified in different ways. Sometimes the letter e is added between the two words of the compound as in fiskekort. The final a can be changed to u as in gatubro, and the final a can also be dropped as in the word skolbarn. It is clear from the list of Swedish compound words that they can be modified in different ways.
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