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Middag used to mean lunch but the meaning has shifted to mean dinner. But in many parts of Sweden it still means lunch.
Funny: it happened the same in French with déjeuner which was breakfast (and still is in Canada and Belgium for example) and is now lunch.
EDIT: Well in fact it seems same thing happened in English. dinner was originally the meal of eaten around noon...
Right. This shift has happened in multiple languages. When people did work involving lots of physical labor they needed to eat their largest meal of the day around noon, in the middle of the workday. Furthermore in some cases the word which used to mean breakfast has shifted to mean the meal now eaten around noon.
It has not in Mexico's spanish, the main meal "comida" (food) is around 2pm and has around 2 hours alotted, power nap included. "Cena" (dinner) is very light and very late ~8-9pm. Unitl afew decades ago most people were farmers.
In Catalan "dinar" means lunch and I've always wondered why in English "dinner" meant dinner and not lunch. It's interesting how languages change.
In English "dinner" means either the evening meal or the midday meal, depending on where you're from and what generation. It means the biggest meal, which varies culturally.
Yes, I think it is name of the main meal. And before, when all men were workers and their wifes were at home, all men went home at noon to have their main meal. Now, everybody brings a lunch box or eat in a restaurant and have their main meal when they get home from work in the evening.
Yeah, what was confusing to me is that I have had multiple French teachers over the years, and some call "déjeuner" breakfast and some call it lunch
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I learned petit déjeuner is breakfast (cup of coffee with a croissant, really nothing against hunger), and déjeuner is the lunch. It depends on the part of France, the teacher, the century?
Agreed. I'm suspecting it really means lunch but obviously I'm not one to say.
I think the word for lunch is the same as the word "lunch" in English, just pronounced a little differently. Don't quote me on it though!
Clarification please: is middag the mid-day/noon meal or the evening meal in Sweden? In some parts of the U.S. "dinner" is "lunch" and other parts "dinner" is "supper".
Likewise, if I'm in Sweden and I ask for "middag" what time of day would I expect to eat?
Tack
It depends :). For most people it is the evening meal (they have "lunch" at noon). For some people (old people and/or people in the countryside), it is the noon meal (they have "kvällsmat" in the evening).
Btw, I see that you are studying Danish: "kvällsmat" is like aftensmad.
It seems really hard to understand the voice and language. It sounds jumbled. It could be just me. Or is it just the voice speaking TOO fast? I mean, I don't like to use the slower version because I feel I should LEARN the language as is. But this seems ridiculous.
Sounds OK to me as a native, perhaps a tiny bit slow. Try not to get disheartened and keep practicing! Your brain and ears will tune in to Swedish with enough time and exposure. :)
Swedish sounds truly musical to me, even though understanding speakers is the hardest part of studying the language. I've been thinking to study Swedish by going through the lyrics if songs of Kent and Veronica Maggio for example. Cannot say this about German and Danish. I am Bulgarian.
OK... Breakfast is the first meal of the day. That's why it is called break (the) fast.
ps: GRR Martin also used it in his Ice and Fire.
Yes, but some people don't eat at all until after 3pm. I just don't call that breakfast anymore, even if they haven't eaten yet. Of course, some restaurants serve breakfast all day long.
California, what about you? People here work all kinds of hours. If you don't get up until noon or 2pm, I don't necessarily assume that you were partying all night, you could have been working the graveyard shift. Hey, even the swing shift would change my schedule. Yet, I know students that don't eat until school is over at 3pm also. Not too healthy, but they just aren't hungry before school and won't take the time at lunch from their socializing!
It certainly sounds like LA or some where. I live now in Chengdu (southwest China) for college, but I am from northwest China Xi'an. You can google the map if you want. Am pretty sure that there ARE some fancy night lives out their, but I believe an overwhelming majority people in inland China eats a normal three-meal-per-day diet.
Interesting! I never thought about the meaning of breakfast, but I know that it is like that in Spanish (desayunar = to have breakfast).
the "g" from "middag" sounds strange here. How are we supposed to pronounce it?
That's what i always thought and then suddenly when i hear it on here, it always sounds like a hard G sound.
can fix this ❤❤❤❤ if u have reported the question then it doesnt apear again cuz i ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ cant finish the task
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Even more fun: until about 60 years ago people in the Netherlands used to eat their hot meal around noon. Probably the same happened in other western and northern European countries.
This is an incorrect translation, the correct translation is "The man and the woman is eating dinner" Because with the current translation it says something like "Mannen och kvinnan äta middag" (I'm swedish, doing this for fun)
That is absolutely not correct. "The man and the woman" are two people, hence you need "are eating". You only use "is eating" if there's one person. Also, Swedish verbs haven't accounted for number for over a century, so the comparison to äta middag is incorrect as well.
I just completed the thing and not ONCE did it say anything about oranges... xD it said that was a word to learn in this course
Usually if you hold the letter down it'll allow you type ä or ö or å. Or you can download the Swedish keyboard in your settings.
my friend ruined the translation by speaking when i was speaking! please kick him out his name is wael727571
