- Forum >
- Topic: Swedish >
- "Jag hinner inte i dag."
76 Comments
1447
Very strange, the machine tells me that is an accepted answer too.
(You should keep in mind that this translation is a little less good since you don't really need to change the tense here – sure, we use present-for-future more often in Swedish than you do in English, but you don't necessarily have to interpret this sentence in a futural way, and if you do, we could have said Jag kommer inte att hinna i dag in Swedish, so it's not a great translation – but it is accepted. Either there was some glitch or you had some other typo without noticing.)
1447
Yes, hinner is like успеть. Swedish and Russian have a few things in common that English does not share :)
I think this expression exist in lot of languages. E.g. jag hinner inte = nem győzöm (Hungarian), nestíhám (Czech), nestíham (Slovak), whereof hinna = győzni (HU), stihnout (CZ) and stihnúť (SK). And I think there is an equivalent in German as well. It is interesting that google give fort these verb the translation 'catch' or 'win' (HU) what could have sense even in this context.
209
Hmm, as a German native speaker, i can't think of a short word for that. "Etwas nicht schaffen" would be the closest translation, but that needs an object (you could say "Ich schaffe es nicht", but that would imply that the person you are talking to knows what you mean by "es", engl. "it").
1447
Yes, that's exactly what Språkrådet says. They're very clear that the other version is also correct though. I too usually write idag, igår, but we decided to try to stick to norms whenever possible.
Hmm, it's actually the other way around, Helen... To write 'idag', 'imorgon' etc as one word is a relatively new custom that has become increasingly common since the 1960s-70s. A big majority of Swedes write 'idag' etc today, including myself. I think it will be the only recommended form in about 20-30 years from now. Language use is not really consistent after all...we will write "i förrgår" and "igår" and accept the irregularity.
1447
We had forgotten to add that version. It should be accepted, but if you don't use got, you would be more likely to say I don't have enough time today.
I think "running behind" is a little different in English. "Hinner inte" is about not having time, not being able to do something in time, whereas "running behind" might mean just doing things a couple of minutes behind schedule. It's subtle, but to me "I haven't got time" or "I won't make it" mean the thing will not get done, but "I'm running behind" means it will be late, but it will (probably) still get done. Of course I might not have a thorough grasp of the Swedish sentence, and maybe it can mean this too.
1447
There's no det In the Swedish sentence so perhaps we should remove that translation. Although it might be more idiomatic to add an object in English than in Swedish.
Generally det translates to 'that' when it's a little bit more stressed, but when it's not even in the sentence, it's definitely not stressed, so it doesn't make sense to allow 'that'.
I'd say that's something an English speaker would understand, but would never say. As Arnauti has confirmed in this thread, "I can't make it today" is an accepted answer, but it doesn't sound the same with "don't" instead of "can't".
I can't really pinpoint a rule for this, but when you use "don't" it sounds like a final or long-term situation, which doesn't fit with the "today" part.
Consider it with another verb, like "drive": "I don't drive" means the person never drives, they probably never took the test, or they think walking is healthier or something. "I can't drive" means the same, but the emphasis is more on the person's ability. Maybe they tried taking a driving test and failed many times. "I can't drive today" puts the emphasis on today. The person normally can drive, but perhaps is too tired, or has drunk alcohol, or maybe the car is out of action. The last option, "I don't drive today" just sounds strange. You could say something like "I don't drive on Mondays" to mean all Mondays, which is fine.