- Forum >
- Topic: Swedish >
- "Hans barn dricker inte kaffe…
31 Comments
Are there any specific ways we know "barn" is plural or singular? I got a different translation wrong, I don't remember the sentence, but I used the singular when the plural was the correct one. However, either should have been correct. I suppose this might be a bug, I'll check it out and report it next time.
In the indefinite form you cannot tell the difference. But in the definite form "the child" - "barnet", but "the children" - "barnen"
Just looked back on this from 4 months ago. In this time, I've finished my tree, run the group on Facebook, translated Swedish news, and conversed with friends at a casual level.
They grow up so fast.
1112
As a Sweden Finn I have to object :) As far as I know Finland has the highest consumption per capita.
Potato, potato... I guess we're avid caffeinists on both sides of the pond. :)
Are all of these acceptable: "His child does not drink coffee", "His child is not drinking coffee", "His children do not drink coffee", "His children are not drinking coffee"?
- 1489
Yes. It's because hans does not change. If it had been mitt/mina instead for instance, we would have known whether it's one child or many children.
When hearing/reading "hans barn", how should I differenciate between "his child" and "his children"?
You use sin/sitt/sina when you want to refer back to the he or she who was the subject of the sentence.
E.g. "Han bjöd sina barn på fika." = "He treated his kids to fika."
But in this case "hans barn" is the subject of the sentence.
This reminds me of a post I saw some time back:
Don't = Do not. Won't = Wo not.
Ingleeeeesh at it's best.
- 249
His child is sitt barn and his children is sina barn.
However sin/sitt/sina cannot be subject of a sentence, only object.
The first time I put: His child does not drink coffee.
It considered it wrong. Wouldnt it work in both, singular and plural, forms?
- 272
Is "His children drink no coffee" acceptable or would there be a different way of saying that?
My husband is Swedish and he told me that it can be both, but he also said that its "children" and not "child" because they don't talk about a specific person.
