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- Topic: Swedish >
- "They want ice cream."
"They want ice cream."
Translation:De vill ha glass.
22 Comments
1454
You need the ha when you want an object.
vill + verb in the infinitive = want. Jag vill sjunga = I want to sing.
vill ha + object = want. Jag vill ha glass = I want ice cream*.
This helped me understand how this works: vill + sjunga = want to sing vill + ha = want to have
Because when you want something, in Swedish you have to specify that you want to HAVE it (e.g. "De vill ha glass" "They want to HAVE ice cream"). However, I think (though I'm not 100% certain) that if what you want involves an action and not an object (such as "I want to go swimming") then "ha" isn't required - e.g. "Jag vill bada" :)
Because "vill" doesn't work like that. You have to state what you want too. "Vill" is merely an expression of will, not an expression of want.
How to say that "They want glass" (the container "ett glass", not the food "en glass")?
- 1454
To begin with, if you say in English They want glass, you are not speaking about glass as a container, but as a material. If you want to ask for the container ett glas (notice there's only one s in it!) that would be De vill ha ett glas in Swedish and They want a glass in English.
If on the other hand they want the material glass, maybe for building a house or something, it would be They want glass in English and De vill ha glas in Swedish.
Because you can't have both verbs in the present tense. You have to have vill in present and ha in the infinitive.
When/how do you use 'skulle'? I know that 'Jag skulle vill ha glass' is a correct term for politely saying you want ice cream, but I don't know how it is used with other persons.
If you add the word "ha" to "vill", you get want. What does vill mean alone?
- 386
My guess is that it literally means "want to have". In English you can omit the have part when you want an object. "vill" alone kind of means "want" but needs a verb after it. If you want to say "I want to swim" you use "jag vill simma". I hope this is right, if not please someone correct me.
