"Enligt henne är hästen vit."
Translation:According to her, the horse is white.
48 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Could it be possible to say Enligt henne hästen är vit.? Or the words order is exactly like that?
really? because that makes so much more logical sense to me, thanks, you've made my day
Yes!
- Enligt henne är hästen vit
- Hästen är vit enligt henne
- Hästen är enligt henne vit
- Vit är hästen, enligt henne (beginning to sound awkward)
So engelska would be: According to her, the horse is white The horse is white according to her The horse is, according to her, white White is the horse, according to her (I'd imagine in both languages this would only be used in poetry).
no, the verb always must be in second position (like in German). So [enligt henne] is one phrase, and if there's any phrase at the beginning of the sentence the verb must come immediately after.
"Är hästen vit?" Yeah. It's the same as here. If you just said "The horse is white", it would be "Hästen är vit." The "Enligt henne" affects the word order of the sentence. If you are confused by it, try to think of it as "Only because something happened could something else happen" and not "Only because something happened something else could happen. It's the way it works.
Re-recording
The voice is not quite perfect on this sentence, as of August 11th, 2017, so I've taken the liberty of re-recording it.
The stress should be on henne, and that word shouldn't merge with är as happens currently.
Please find a correct recording on http://duolingo.vydea.io/239b388ab9f640379e0bc23e93f07f33.mp3
For more info on re-recordings, please check the info thread: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/23723515
Thanks for listening. Ha en bra dag! :)
Because this is not a correct English sentence. The word order changes in Swedish, but it doesn't in English.
”Vita” is also the definite form of ”vit”. Since you have ”den” and ”hästen”, the adjective also has to be definite.
I see. There are a lot of rules to remember, but it's been fun so far. Tack! :D
Thank you. The word order feels so strange to me! (Native English speaker.) The Swedish mods on this site are really active and it's very much appreciated. (:
English isn't a v2 language, so the verb doesn't move from "the horse is" to "is the horse" when putting the subclause first.
That's really not a very idiomatic English word order, so it shouldn't be accepted.
1902
"Är hästen vit, enligt henne?" is the possible way to have it as an unambiguous question.
I really don't understand how the current phrase is not already a question...? "Enligt henne är hästen vit?". The verb "är" is before the noun "hästen"... this is really confusing if it doesn't work...
No, Swedish makes a difference between predicative and attributive adjectives, meaning that even though hästen is in the definite, the adjective isn't here.
I've written about it briefly several times in these forums, e.g. here: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/26420394/Answers-to-some-common-questions-on-grammar-that-beginners-have (under "How many definites do I need when I have an adjective describing a noun?")
Like you're having a petty argument over the color of the horse. "Enligt HENNE är hästen vit.
Sure, that'll work. There was a huge and absolutely idiotic argument all over the internet the other year on whether a piece of clothing was blue or gold.
well, i just dont get it (native german speaker i am :-)). nobody would set a comma in a sentence where there isnt in the translation ("enligt henne är hästen vit" being "according to her, the horse is white). but then it is "enligt henne, hästen är vit" being "according to her, the horse is white". its driving me completely crazy. i've never bothered with grammatics (you just learn it the way it is) but you would never put a comma somewhere while translating while there isnt any in the original sentence
you would never put a comma somewhere while translating while there isnt any in the original sentence
That's actually not true. Since languages work differently, there may be many reasons to change punctuation when translating.
In this case, the most straightforward way of expressing the sentence is in its natural word order: Hästen är vit enligt henne.
When you move enligt henne in front, Swedish requires you to move the verb so that it comes directly after. So you get enligt henne är hästen vit, instead of enligt henne hästen är vit.
In English, however, when you move "according to her" in front, you don't move the verb. Instead, you add a comma. So you get "according to her, the horse is white".
It's simply bad grammar to skip the comma in English - and it would be to add the comma in Swedish.
thanks. thats a really good explanation. but its still a bit confusing because you really have to think about how the word order has to be set. for many german people its a hit confusing because you have to learn swedish - english - german and the other way around. there isnt a direct way for swedish - german built in duolingo. so its exercise in english as well, but that makes it a bit complicated when it comes to word order.
nevertheless - tack så mycket for the good explanation. i wish i could learn it that it goes fluently
That's very understandable. And it gets even more confusing because German sometimes behaves the same way as Swedish here - but sometimes it doesn't. In this specific case, you'd need the same word order as in English. So I totally get the confusion.
When you move a subclause to the front in English, you retain the word order and add a comma. So it's still "the horse is white".
I really like the way Duolingo kinda throws you into a new sentence without much explaining and you are expected to figure it out for yourself. Such a great way to learn a language! Surely has helped me a lot as I have "forced" myself to memorize the order in a sentence by making up my own version of the rules instead of having to learn one by heart.