"De flesta av mina kusiner bor i Finland."

Translation: Most of my cousins live in Finland.

[Vladvarg]

Why not "The most of my cousins"? We don't use the "de"?

[OsoGegenHest]

That's just not English. We say "Most of my..." or "The majority of my...". You can't mix them.

[arturock58]

When De means "the", is it pronounced "dom" as well?

[devalanteriel]

Yes, absolutely. Like det, you could pronounce it the way it ought to by appearance, but it would sound very formal. It's something I would expect at, say, a Nobel prize recognition ceremony.

[317.oNlYxOpmHnr1]

Why not

"Flest av mina kusiner" since the English translation is "Most of"?

[Anrui]

Because "flest av" is simply not correct. There are many situations where you cannot translate word for word between Swedish and English, and this is one.

[FinnishCellist]

I mean... det stämmer :D

[historicbruno]

I'm finding many uses of "de flesta [noun]", without the "av". Is it optional, or is it required in this particular construction?

I discovered this source, but it makes "de flesta" seem very complicated... https://books.google.com/books?id=Zu6ykpApmdMC&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=swedish+de+flesta&source=bl&ots=wAdRXHdPOp&sig=zqsbaTEkpH8aTsYQ9zxtzEcwbaY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjh77DFmfjcAhVn44MKHck1BEMQ6AEwBnoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=swedish%20de%20flesta&f=false

[GodlessGoat]

Intuitively, I would say "de flesta av mina kusiner" but "de flesta kusiner". Just like in English, where you would also say "most of my cousins" but "most cousins".

[Jupp993513]

Why is "the most of my cousins..." marked wrong here?