"Hon bor i det största huset."

Translation: She lives in the biggest house.

[Malgosia007]

Maybe it is not the best place to ask that question, but I still cannot understand why we have the perfectly understandable sentence "Hon bor i det största huset" here, and in one of the previous examples we've got "Det är den sämsta bok jag vet" (bok, not boken). Could someone explain that to me?

[Zmrzlina]

Good question!

In "hon bor i det största huset", you have a relatively simple sentence where the noun is doubly definite (det ... -et) because of the adjective.

Generally, the definite suffix (-et) can be dropped altogether if the noun is further defined by a subclause, here "[som] jag vet".

[Malgosia007]

Thank you! Do I understand correctly that it is not mandatory and one can say "Det är den sämsta boken jag vet" as well?

[Zmrzlina]

I think so, yes.

[KiwiDressager]

Tack så mycket för både frågan och svaret! Jag förstade det inte men jag förstår nu. (Jag tror och hoppas!)

A lingot for you both!

(I came to the comments to ask exactly that having remained confused after perusing the comments on the "Det är den sämsta bok jag vet" question.)

[bleedingorange]

Is "som" in the sentence "Det är den sämsta bok jag vet" omitted because it refers to the object of the subclause?

[mike.liddle]

Is there a simple explanation for using -e vs. -a in different places? I've noticed it with many adjectives it is -e in one instance and -a in another, and was wondering why?

[Lundgren8]

When you’re describing a male person (a human) you can optionally use -e if you want. But it’s optional. I.e. Den elake/-a läkaren heter Gregory House. (The mean doctor’s name is Gregory House.)

[historicbruno]

I would point out that this sentence is not only an adjective but a superlative. The rule is somewhat more complex, and it's not explained adequately on DL. The notes are very brief.

The standard superlative ending is -ast, which becomes -aste in the attributive (appears before the noun) definite case. In either case, there is no separate masculine form. Don't confuse this with the normal -a/-e rule Lundgren8 described.

• Adjective: varm, varma (def. or plur.), varme (optional sing. m. def.)

• Superlative: varmast (indef./predicative), varmaste (def./attrib.)

For irregular superlatives like störst, you add an -a for the attributive definite case, and now there is a separate masculine form. When you have a single definite masculine thing, you can use the -e ending.

• Adjective: stor, stora (definite or plural), store (optional sing. m. def.)

• Superlative: störst (indef./pred.), största (def./attrib.), störste (sing. m. def.)

[kenmatin]

here why uses det not den?

[Berniebud]

Because "Hus" is an "Ett" word (Ett hus - A house), so it uses the article "Det".

If it was an "En" word (e.g. En anka - A duck), it would use "Den".