"Ankan simmar till flickan."

Translation: The duck swims to the girl.

[CapdeBurro]

I thougt "towards" was a better translation for this particular sentence...Am I wrong ?

[Lundgren8]

”Towards” would rather translate to ”mot” in Swedish.

[CapdeBurro]

Yea so if "till" is used that means he goes all the way

[Lundgren8]

Yes.

[Menelion]

I thought "mot" is "against", am I wrong? (I also put "towards"...)

[Arnauti]

mot is both against and towards, but till in a directional sense is to.

[pllork]

Then would it also be correct to translate this as: 'The duck swims up to the girl'? 'Up to' would convey the idea that the duck keeps swimming until it reaches the girl. (As opposed to 'towards' - 'mot', if I'm understanding this correctly)

[Arnauti]

up to = fram till in Swedish.

[Eryashnik]

Så, jag sager "Alla mot Alla".

Tänker du första,
All against all, eller, all towards all?

[Arnauti]

Obviously against, since that's the most likely context.

[staavros]

Thanks both, came here to ask or find an answer to that :)

[FreeAlarmBells]

And they knew, from that moment on, that it was true love

[ChloKokx]

Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul?

[Kaens]

Do boats "swim" in Swedish?

[Arnauti]

No, they flyter = 'float' and seglar = 'sail' or åker 'go'.

[lorenagay]

Yes very difficult to discern the word "till".

[SayaJavad]

how to know when to use för and till?

[sotnosen93]

I can't give you a detailed explanation without knowing what sentence you heard "för" in, as prepositions sometimes don't translate directly and need context, but I can tell you that "Ankan simmar för flickan" in this case would mean that the duck swims FOR the girl. Personally it gives me an image in my head of the duck showing off its swimming/putting on some kind of show to the girl.

[superdaisy]

Forvo has "till" sounding more phonetic according to English: teel. Is this more accurate than the TTS, or does it sort of vary? (I know the TTS can be terrible with pronunciation, but Forvo is also user-generated.)

[Arnauti]

I think they both sound good, it's a short /i/ and a long /l/.

[Shifferbranes]

It sounds like they're saying "teely"

[spenczar5]

Could this also mean "The duck swims into the girl", like the duck collides into her?

[Arnauti]

No, but you could say that with på as a particle (stressed). You can use this with most words of movement: köra på 'drive into', 'hit' (with your car) cykla på 'drive into someone/thing while riding a bike', segla på 'hit someone/thing by sailing' etc etc.

'I ran into him' would be Jag sprang på honom – remember to stress 'på' to make it a particle, as a preposition the meaning will be very different.

[Pushkin6]

Hi, if I understood correctly på is used to express a contact and also some kind of a blow, I mean some kind of violence in the contact; while till is used to express the complete movement from point A to B but without a contact, am I right? Or it could exist a contact but without any kind of violence in it? Thanks.

[sotnosen93]

That sounds pretty correct, yes. "På" implies some kind of collision, intentional or not, while "till" implies non-violently stopping somewhere, either at a location or by something or someone. So yes, "till" can imply contact (at least if I understand what you mean by contact right), like for example in this very sentence, "Ankan simmar till flickan."

[EllenLovel1]

I don't understand what 'till' is. In a previous question, the man bought 'klader till barn' (sorry for sp). As in clothes for the child. So is it 'for the' or 'to the'?

[Lawrence-C]

Quack, quack.

[pigaliciou1]

Ankan simmar för flickan?

[mesvensson]

Nope. Till. Or mot if you want to say towards.