"Hva spiser vegetarianeren?"

Translation: What is the vegetarian eating?

[bergenhopps]

Could this also be literally translated as "What is eating the vegetarian?"

[fveldig]

Technically, yes, realistically, no. It would be "Hva er det som spiser vegetarianeren?".

[zirrex]

Haha! But it accepts "What eats the vegetarian?" )))

[ZoeCannoli]

Lol, you're not alone!

[deactivated user]

So that would be something like "what is it that eats the vegetarian?"?

[fveldig]

That's the literal translation, yes.

[RedM00N]

i wrote "what does the vegetarian eat ?" why it's wrong

[fveldig]

That's an accepted sentence, so it was either a bug, or you made a mistake you didn't see :)

[RedM00N]

maybe ,and it's the same if i meant what do the vegetarian eats in general? like not this specific one.
tusen takk

[fveldig]

Indeed.

[EricGjovaag]

(Unfortunately, this joke only works in English, not Norwegian.)

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

[angel-ev]

Wait why does it say "what is eating the vegetarian?" Why am I laughing

[effyleven]

"Huh! Vegeteraran! What's eating him?"

[effyleven]

(Hmm.. I corrected the spelling of 'vegetarian' three times before posting that. It still ended up wring,)

[LeonProfes]

Native english speakers, why can't it be
What the vegetarian is eating?

[CommissarFeesh]

Actually, I'll rescind my previous statement. Your example could be a question, but would have a very different meaning, more like asking for confirmation or clarification.

"I need you to bring me that meal back."

"Which one? What the vegetarian is eating?"

[CommissarFeesh]

That word order makes it a statement. For it to be a question in English, it has to be "what is".

[fswr06]

I do not know the grammatical terms, but it is not in the proper order. All the words are right, but "is" belongs between "what" and "the".

[Scarlet_321]

Because the auxiliary verb (is) needs to come before the subject (the vegetarian) . Not a native speaker tho, but learned that rule a long time ago.

[JanuszWoro3]

"What the vegetarian is eating" is just a phrase, not a complete sentence. You can use it as part of a larger sentence, for example, "I like what the vegetarian is eating" or "What the vegetarian is eating is very healthy".

The correct way to say this question is "What is the vegetarian eating?"

[Dawr3434]

Because the focus of the sentences meaning changes from what is eating the vegetarian eg...a wolf...to what the vegetarian is eating....eg..a salad sandwich.

[nickiru]

ulven spiser meg...
now something is eating a vegetarian.

Perhaps the man eaten by the ulv was said vegetarian... (starts thinking of a hidden novel in all this)

I prefer non violent study materials (lol)

[continues studying uninfluenced]

[NotPolice]

I wrote: What is eating the vegetarian. Thought that was the correct translation and it actually was....lol