I received an email last week that football training was inställd. Norstedts wasn’t very helpful:
- vara inställd beredd på ngt be prepared for sth
- vara inställd på att (+ inf.) a) be prepared to + inf. b) ämna intend to + inf.
- vara sympatiskt inställd till ngt be sympathetic towards…
- vänligt inställd favourably (kindly) disposed; jfr äv. inställa, ställa in
That is, not even a definition for inställd, just a series of set phrases to demonstrate usage.
Swedish has many compound verbs, that is, words formed by prefixing another word (which may be a noun, adjective, verb, or other prefix) onto a verb. To start with, I’m just looking at a group of prefixes called particles. There are inseparable particles, which are always prefixed, for example, tyda = to interpret, as in the online dictionary tyda.se. Add be- and you have betyda = to mean. Inseparable particles include:
an- | anklaga | to accuse |
er- | erbjuda | to offer |
sam- | samarbeta | to cooperate |
van- | vansköta | to neglect |
But there are also separable particles, such as:
på | sätta på | to switch on |
om | tycka om | to like |
ihåg | komma ihåg | to remember |
And some particles are used both ways, in which case, apparently, the separated form has the more concrete meaning:
Han strök under ordet.
He underlined the word.Han underströk ordet.
He emphasised the word.Lampan lyste upp rummet.
The lamp lit up the room.Vi upplyste honom.
We enlightened him.
Which brings me back to inställd. It’s the past participle of inställa, a compound verb which is a cognate to the English verb install, but see if you can figure out the connection between inställa and the separated compound ställa in:
ställa in
to put in
ställa in bilen i garaget
put the car in the garageinställa
to cancel
inställa förhandlingarna
discontinue negotiations