"The man shops for food."
Translation:Manden køber ind.
14 Comments
at købe ind is a fixed expression which means to shop for everyday items (not necessarily food), generally in the modern day in the supermarket, sort of like the American English "grocery shopping"
Manden køber ind could be anything. The "for food" is strongly misleading.
1498
Je croix qu'en francais on dit 'faire les courses'. C'est difficile de traduire une expression fixee comme ca.
In German you can also say 'Der Mann kauft ein', but it could mean to buy anything. And when I talked with Danish friends, 'at købe ind' was never just limited to food and wasn't understood as that. I think 'The man goes shopping' would be a more proper equivalent of the Danish 'Manden køber ind'.
I think several possibilities should be considered here.
groceries is food. I may go to the supermarket and but soap etc but when one says groceries one thinks of food. But if I say I'm going shopping I could be buying anything
- 2265
Would "Manden køber mad ind." work or does it sound too strange due to the (unnecessary) repetition?
"Manden køber mad ind" would be completely fine and correct. I actually think that the translation given here is incorrect. "Manden køber ind" is not specifying at all what he is buying.
- 1498
No, as mentioned before a better english translation might be "The man shops for groceries" (which, if I'm not mistaken, includes food). The main thing is to get the meaning of doing the daily shopping translated into English.
