"She loves her husband."
Translation:Hun elsker sin ektemann.
17 Comments
62
You shouldn't use hennes ektemann here because it could possibly mean the husband of someone else other than the woman the sentence is talking about.
- 1180
How does one decide, in cases like this, when to use "sin" and when to use "hennes" (or "hans" as the case may be)? It looks like they are both allowed here, but are they always interchangeable?
"Sin/Sitt/Sine" points the ownership back to the subject of the sentence, which in this case is "henne". So "Hun elsker sin ektemann" means that she loves her own husband, while "Hun elsker ektemannen hans" means that she loves somebody else's husband.
The English sentence "She loves her husband" is ambiguous, and can translate to either of the Norwegian versions.
But if you use sin, does is have to come before ektemann? Could you say, "hun elsker ektemannen sin?
Either works here, but while "ektemann" will always mean husband, "mann" needs the right context (and usually a possessive) to have the same meaning.
- 14
In the vocabulary listing at the beginning of the lesson is the word 'ekte-'. Is there a meaning for just that prefix?
Quoting Wiktionary:
"Borrowed from German echt (“real”). The German term originates from Middle Low German echt (“lawful, genuine”), contraction of ehacht, variant form of ehaft (“lawful, pertaining to the law”) from ê(e) (“law, marriage”)."
In this lesson, we teach it as a prefix in "ektemann", "ektefelle", and "ektepar". In that context, it can be understood as "lawfully wedded" in English, but you wouldn't explicitly translate it as such outside of your wedding vows.
"Ekte" as a standalone adjective, meaning "real" or "genuine", is taught in Adjectives 3: lesson 5.
"Ektefelle" is neutral, like "spouse", so you can use it in place of both "ektemann" and "kone". It's a bit on the formal side, but definitely usable.
