"Renen dricker mjölk."
Translation:The reindeer is drinking milk.
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How does this sentence indicate one reindeer is the subject vs plural reindeer?
En ren dricker glögg - renen dricker glögg
Flera renar dricker glögg - renarna dricker glögg
Then, their noses will turn red: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqOJRpzlh3w
Tack sa mycket. Your answer makes it so obvious, and yet I was stuck on the English, end reindeer being both singular and plural.
I had this same problem, adding to the fact that dricker has multiple meanings...
There's a comment in this thread but no explanation as to why "renen" sounds like "ree-uh-nen" (three distinct syllables) rather than what one would expect phonetically: "ren-en". Is this some property of the "n" in the middle? Or is it a diphthong of the first "e"?
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It sounds like she's pronouncing renen as "ri-en-en". Is this the proper way to pronounce it, or is there some issue with the TTS?
In a lot of Swedish accents, the long-"e" is a bit diphthongy, starting farther back in the mouth and sliding into the long-"e" spot. Kinda like if you reversed the direction of the English long "a" (as in "wade") diphthong. So you're not completely wrong, but the starting point isn't as high in the mouth as an "i".
- 694
I am not sure, your description is correct... To my ears the Swedish long E sounds very much like a German "er", not like in words such as "Länder" (short vowel!), but like the pronoun "er" (Swedish: han), and also like Danish, such as "mere", though the Swedish vowel (diphthong) is longer than the Danish one.
So, actually, the starting point is not further back in the mouth, but by contrast, more in the front part of the mouth, sliding further back!
For instance: "Greta" sounds very much like "Greeata" (of course not the English sounds which would be completely misleading, but as if this were Danish or German).
Essentially, the same phenomenon as with "å". "två" actually sounds like "tvåa", perhaps not as spoken by all Swedes, but most likely in Stockholm, yes.
My two cents :-)
Hjort = Hart (as often used in pub names in the UK, like The White Hart)
Because Reindeer and deer are distinct from each other. It's like translating "Trout" to simply "Fish"
I was under the impression 'Dricker' was both a plural and singular word; That is, both 'is drinking' and 'are drinking.' I was incorrect when I answered with 'are drinking'.... what changes the is vs. are? (Sorry if this is supposed to be obvious)
In Swedish, how do you distinguish between the verb tenses? For example "dricker". How do you know if a person is saying "drinks", or "is drinking"? Or "ater"--> "eats" or "is eating".
Embedded links don't seem to work on mobile, so it's better to write them out. It's https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5954508
Mjölk sounds here precisely as Mjöl... but that are different words..
- 694
I made a comment about this in a different thread. Either this is a bad audio example OR Swedish does not pronounce p, t, k at the end of words (or without releasing the closure of a plosive).
- 774
How do i know it is supposed to be
"The reindeer drinks milk" Instead of "The reindeer drink milk"
Am i missing a word that makes it so? Thanks in advance!!!
- 774
If it's on the links that might be my issue. I'll have to log into a desktop to view it. For some reason it errors out for me. :/
- 774
Oh so it's singular and that's why it's drinks and not drink? Sorry for the question I'm just trying to make sure I understand before I progress further
Yup, renen is singular definite and renarna plural definite.
(for some reason people who don't see comments when they're on mobile sometimes see them when they return on mobile, but the forums work in mysterious ways).
- 774
Ahhh Thank you!!!! I got plural lesson coming up so I'm sure I'll get a better grasp of this. Cheers
Why is 'the reindeer drinks' wrong and should be 'the reindeer is drinking'? How can I tell the difference
They should both be correct. They are said the same way in Swedish. If you get this error again report it (little flag) instead of posting to forums (Devs don't check forums)
ETA and I also got it wrong for the same reason and reported it. (09/20/18)
Welp... Never heard of a reindeer drinking milk other than now... But im wierd anyways so :P
As a Hermitceaft fan, i cant stop thinking of Rendog when i hear Ren. It makes me wonder if Iskall sees Ren's name as ReindeerDog. xD
