"She is wearing her nice dress."
Translation:Hon har på sig sin fina klänning.
53 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I don't understand why it's "fina" rather than "fin" here if there's only one dress. Isn't the "-a" at the end generally for plurals?
-a is used for plurals, and for definites when described by an adjective. Nouns after an -s or possessive pronoun (i.e. owned by another) are treated as were they definite.
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Conjugations of "to love"(English): love, loves, loving, loved.
Conjugations of "att älska"(Swedish): älska, älskas, älskar, älskade, älskades, älskat, älskats, älskande, älskad.
Conjugations of "amar"(Portuguese): amo, amas, ama, amamos, amais, amam, amava, amavas, amava, amávamos, amáveis, amavam, amei, amaste, amou, amamos, amastes, amaram, amara, amaras, amáramos, amáreis, amarei, amarás, amará, amaremos, amareis, amarão, amaria, amarias, amaríamos, amaríeis, amariam, ame, ames, amemos, ameis, amem, amasse, amasses, amasse, amássemos, amásseis, amassem, amar, amares, amarmos, amardes, amarem, amai, amando, amado.
Sooo yeah, I am really glad neither English nor Swedish have verb conjugations!
They're really logical and not so hard to remember once you get the hang of it because there is a rule to the changes (no one learns them in a giant list like this). I honestly much prefer it to "there's no rule just remember it" of the germanic languages, but it's a matter of taste :)
So you use -a for adjectives followed by a noun in plural or definite form (as far as I know) a definite is when you're talking about one certain dress for example. When we're talking about this woman's dress we're talking about one certain dress, it's defined
That seems like a very specific and odd rule but I'm sure English has similarly odd things that we don't notice as native speakers.
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This concept is new to me. I also would have put 'sin' since it's one person and one dress. Could you please give a couple examples of using definites when also using a adjective?
So definite but without an article (klänningen) because of the posessive pronoun right?
No, the possessive pronoun is inherently definite so it doesn't trigger the definite form. Hence e.g. min fina klänning. English does the same for the cognate construction - you'd say "my nice dress", not "my nice the dress".
Is there a difference between the meanings of "Hon har på sig sin fina klänning" and "Hon har sin fina klänning på sig?"
"Har på oss" and "Har på sig sin" This is kinda confusing. Why isnt it "Har på sig oss"? Tack
- hon = she
- har på sig = (literally) has on herself = (idiomatically) wears
- sin = her
- fina klänning = nice dress
But oss means "us", so saying hon har på sig oss makes no sense.
Warranting a guess, would the equivalents be, "She has on her fine dress," and, "She has her fine dress on"?
Good question. "Sin" is reflexive and refers to her own dress. "Hennes" would refer to another female's dress. I'm guessing one could use either as a correct translation since there is ambiguity in the English. A native/fluent speaker should provide a clearer answer though. :)
thanks for commenting but i am still a little confused. I though Sin-Sit and sina could be OPTIONAL but your comment tells me there are some obligations here because when Sin/sit/ sinna are applicable we cannot use hennes/ hans and deras anymore. is my understanding correct?
Yes, they are not optional. If the dress belongs to her, you must say sin klänning, and if it belongs to someone else, it has got to be hennes. English is ambiguous in these cases, Swedish is not.
Yes because the exercise starts in english which is ambiguous to whose dress "Hon" is wearing. If it starts in Swedish, or your intent is to say that she wears her OWN dress, it has to be sin.
And it's weird... I've used hennes before and it was right, now all of a sudden it wont let me use it.
Be sure also to read the explanations on this page on why it's sin and not hennes.
Not really., fin is more about simple beauty/elegance in this case, while snygg is more like handsome, good-looking, or possibly hot.
The nice dress - Den fina klanningen Her nice dress - Sin fina klanning So... When you are refering to someones thing you dont add the final thing?
Correct! Possessive pronouns trigger the definite of the adjective, but not of the noun. Saying sin fina klänningen would be like saying "her nice the dress" in English.
I am confused as to why it is "Hon pa sig sin fina klanning" but in a previous sentence it had to be "Hon har sina vanliga klader pa sig." Sorry don't have a swedish keyboard so no accents.
Can I get more explanation about it? changind the places of these words confused me
There's not difference between the two sentences, it works both ways. It's basically the same sentence but reworded.
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why is "her nice dress" translated as "sin fina klänning" but in the other occassions "my green apple" is translated as "mitt grönt äpple"?
so when should we add "-a" in the definite expression?
"my green apple" is actually mitt gröna äpple, so it fits the pattern. All regular adjectives in Swedish use the -a suffix for definites.
Is Sin in this sentence which makes it definite? And that is why they added a.. Fina
Yes, that is correct. For possessives, the adjective gets the definite ending but the noun does not.
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I put "Hon har på sig sin fin klänning." Sometimes this site will just show the error but give me a pass and sometimes it completely fails me. Makes no sense.
There's a bug with "type what you hear" exercises, where sometimes it won't show the typo if you make one but still pass. I thought it had been resolved, though.
She is wearing her own dress (sin klänning), not some other female's dress (hennes klänning).
My experience is that one conjugates verbs but declines nouns and adjectives; however, in this and another Swedish course "conjugate nouns" seems to be the norm. Could someone please explain why in Swedish nouns and adjectives are "conjugated"?