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- "We go."
"We go."
Translation:Vi åker.
17 Comments
1449
They don't work 100% the same. In German, they can actually say things like Ich gehe ins Ausland, whereas you can't use gå like that in Swedish.
125
OK, but does that imply that "åker" means something more like "drive" (operate a vehicle) or "ride" (be transported by a vehicle) than "go" (move yourself somewhere)? Or am I misinterpreting something?
1449
Yes, åker implies that you use some means of transportation. But it still translates go in many cases. We go abroad -> Vi åker utomlands.
1449
Only in some cases, not generally.
fahren can mean 'drive', but åker cannot. Kannst du Auto fahren? -> Kan du köra bil? -> Can you drive a car?
laufen can mean both 'run' and 'walk', but gå cannot mean 'run'.
Åka means 'ride' and also 'come', 'go' when the speaker implies using some means of transport (a vehicle, a train, a plane, a boat). It doesn't matter if you are a driver or passenger. This verb is also used when things like rollerblades and skis are involved.
Gå means 'walk on foot' and also 'come', 'go' when walking on foot is implied.
This distinction is very important.
This distinction is basic, it is how speakers of Swedish see the world. Languages have different strategies for describing reality. Perhaps, you would use some phrase, something like vara på väg (be on the way) or ska in questions (Vart ska du? = Where are you going?). However, what is important is that for Swedish the distinction between riding a vehicle and walking on foot is very important, in this respect Swedish is different from English.