Thanks, this is very helpful!
I didn't know that 'den' was singular; I guess I should have, though. Here's what I had thought: I thought that when you had a definite adjective-noun construct, you had to put 'den' or 'det' or 'de' in front of the adjective, and then also make the noun definite (this is somewht like Arabic, which I'm learning at the moment). Is this correct?
Also, are there any rules for making these compound nouns, like 'nattfågel' and 'nordanstjärn'? I see them a lot in Vintersorg's lyrics, but I've never been able to tell whether this is just poetic device or standard Swedish grammar (I do realize that Vintersorg's first three albums are written in an older, dialectical form of Swedish).
And (sorry, I've got a lot of questions), when does the verb come before the noun in Swedish? I know that the verb precedes the noun in questions, but when does it precede in statements? This just occured to me because of the correction from 'nattfåglar flygar' to 'flyger nattfåglarna'. Another question raised by this correction: does 'nattfåglar' have to be definite? I was meaning to say simply, 'Nightbirds fly', not 'The nightbirds fly', but I know from Arabic that you often can't do this.
I'd be very, very grateful if anyone were to answer these questions.
Revised form of 'Nattfåglar':
I himlarna ovanför nordanskogarna,
Flyger nattfåglar(na?) in i vinterstjärnorna
Is that any better?
Thanks again for the help!!!
Grymskald (heh)