sådan...att

Such...that

Level 4

Use sådan...att to say 'such...that', connecting a noun's quality to a result. The form of sådan must agree with the noun's gender and number.

How It Works

The sådan...att construction is used to express a cause-and-effect relationship where the quality of a noun is so significant that it leads to a specific outcome.

Agreement is crucial:
The form of sådan changes based on the noun's gender and number, following the same pattern as many adjectives.

  • sådan: Used with singular en-words.
    en sådan vacker dag (such a beautiful day)
  • sådant: Used with singular ett-words.
    ett sådant svårt problem (such a difficult problem)
  • sådana: Used with all plural nouns.
    sådana höga priser (such high prices)

The structure is: [Noun phrase with sådan/sådant/sådana] + att + [result clause].

The clause following att is a subordinate clause, which means it follows the BIFF rule for word order (e.g., adverbs like inte come before the verb).

Important Distinction:
Do not confuse sådan...att with så...att.

  • Use sådan...att with nouns: Det var en sådan bra film att jag såg den två gånger. (It was such a good movie that I saw it twice.)
  • Use så...att with adjectives or adverbs: Filmen var så bra att jag såg den två gånger. (The movie was so good that I saw it twice.)

The noun form in the attributive pattern is indefinite: en sådan storm, ett sådant mod, sådana problem. The result clause can also explain a predicative sådan: Situationen är sådan att vi behöver hjälp. The distinction from så is not simply “a noun appears somewhere”: en så bra film att... is valid because så modifies bra.

Examples (4)

  1. Det var en sådan storm att alla flyg blev inställda.

    It was such a storm that all flights were canceled.

    Word by Word: It was a such storm that all flights became canceled.

    storm is an en-word, so sådan is used.

  2. Han visade ett sådant mod att alla blev imponerade.

    He showed such courage that everyone was impressed.

    Word by Word: He showed a such courage that everyone became impressed.

    mod is an ett-word, so sådant is used.

  3. De har sådana problem att de behöver hjälp.

    They have such problems that they need help.

    Word by Word: They have such problems that they need help.

    problem is plural, so sådana is used.

  4. Hon kände en sådan glädje att hon började gråta.

    She felt such joy that she started to cry.

    Word by Word: She felt a such joy that she started to cry.

    glädje is an en-word, requiring sådan.

Common Mistakes

  • Using så directly before a bare noun instead of sådan.

    Jag har aldrig sett en så film.
    Jag har aldrig sett en sådan film.

    så modifies an adjective or adverb, not a bare noun. To describe a noun by itself, you need sådan (en sådan film). Note that en så bra film att... is also correct, because there så modifies the adjective bra.

  • Using the wrong form of sådan for the noun's gender or number.

    Det är ett sådan stort hus.
    Det är ett sådant stort hus.

    Hus is an ett-word, so use sådant. The noun and any adjective remain in their indefinite forms here: ett sådant stort hus.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

sådan...attLevel 4Such...that

Learn This First

To use 'sådan...att' (such...that), you need to understand how adjectives agree with nouns in Swedish, as 'sådan' changes form based on the noun. Additionally, you must be familiar with subordinate clause structure (att-clauses) to correctly form the result portion of the sentence.

Words in This Pattern

sådan