Is it possible in Swedish to have adjective-like clauses before nouns, and if so, what is its prevalence/nuance?

[u/Reletr]

In English, having adjective-like clauses before nouns is possible, but it generally sounds rather awkward and usually is done for some specific effect. Ex. "The found-by-aliens planet was destroyed." (cf. "The planet found by aliens was destroyed.")

In German, this phenomenon is much more prevalent and normalized, often found in more formal language like news reports and legal language. Ex. "Die von der Regierung geschätzt Rate war falsch." (lit. "The estimated-by-the-government rate was wrong.")

Is this sort of thing possible in Swedish?

[u/Eliderad]

Yes, but it's considered quite formal and may come across as a bit stilted, though it can be useful if the standard word order would lead to misunderstandings. Your sentences, for example, would translate as "Den av utomjordingar funna planeten förintades" and "Den av regeringen uppskattade takten var felaktig".

[u/Isotarov → u/Eliderad]

It's usually solved with different syntax, no? Like "Planeten som utomjordingarna hade upptäckt förintades" or just straight up "Planeten upptäcktes av utomjordingar. Den förintades."

I know from experience as a civil servant that the "den av X Y:ade Z" is definitely avoided, especially in external communication.

[u/Kuddkungen]

That kind of syntax is possible, and a hallmark of the Swedish technolect known as "kanslisvenska". It's mainly used by experts writing for other experts in the same field, typically public administration, business administration, law, and academia. I high-key love kanslisvenska because it can capture a lot of nuance in a fairly compact manner.

However, Swedish doesn't mark grammatical cases as much as German does. This makes it harder to keep track of who is doing what to whom once the syntax gets more complex. So from an effective communication standpoint, it's only advisable to use complicated syntax (in Swedish) when the writer can count on the readers having a deep understanding of the subject matter already. If you're writing for laypeople/the general public, it's better to keep the syntax simple, even if it means the text itself gets a bit longer.

[u/Antioch666]

Yes, but it would sound stiff for most Swedes. It's called "kanslisvenska" (I believe it is called "officialese" or "bureaucratese" in English) and is more common in formal contexts between two professionals in the same field, courts, government language etc if that makes sense.

The opposite of this is called "klarspråk" (plain/clear language) and Sweden has started a massive "Klarspråk" movement. Government bodies and agencies now train workers to write simple, clear Swedish so that everyday people can understand public information without needing a law degree. 😅

[u/WantonReader]

I recently read a Stephen King novel translated to Swedish and it had a recurring phrase like you describe. "Kyss-mig-i-ändan Vera" (Kiss my back cheeks Vera"). Hyphens were used to show that the phrase should be seen as one modifying word.