- Forum >
- Topic: Swedish >
- "Kocken dricker kaffe."
27 Comments
Warning for BAD pronunciation of the word "kocken". What she says is "kåken", which translates into "the shack".
"Kocken dricker kaffe" translates to both "the cook is drinking coffee" and "the cook drinks coffee" right? However those two english sentences don't necessarily mean the same thing. How would the two meanings be differentiated in swedish?
Through context. Most languages are like that. Heck, some languages, like Japanese and Tagalog, don't have the present, past or future tenses but what they call the "perfect" and "imperfect" tenses. Anyway, the two have close definitions and you'll usually be able to differentiate them through context.
240
As it's discussed in pretty much every previous lesson, English is the one of the few Germanic languages that actually distinguish the two tenses, Icelandic being another one. Another Germanic language - Dutch, expresses the continuous aspect, not with a different tense but with different constructions such as using one of the 'posture verbs' - 'Ik lig te slapen' - I am sleeping or literally 'I lie (down) to sleep'.
Correct (mokane3562) and I find myself sort of asking the same question, because one sentence is the cook presently drinking coffe, and the other sentence is saying that the cook does drink coffee not saying that the cook is at the present, but just saying that he/she does.
- 240
Context is the only answer, as per exhaustive explanation by theredcebuano and me. You will just have to change the way you think.
To drink always seems to be "dricker" regarless of whether ir followes I/you/we/she/they etc. Don't vervs get conjugated in Swedish?
It's pronounced more of "dreeker" You can hear native Swedish speakers say it here: http://www.forvo.com/word/dricker/#sv
I'm pretty sure the computer pronounces "kocken" wrong, my family says it more like koocken
Would "chef" also work here? Afraid to try lest I get it wrong lol. On the flashcards they're insistent ön ut being translated to "chef"
