"Det är viktigt att boken är bra."
Translation:It is important that the book is good.
31 Comments
In English, I feel as though a more appropriate translation would be "It is important that the book be good", because it would require to use the subjunctive form of be (which is just be). I did read somewhere that Swedish does not really use subjunctive anymore. Does anyone else agree with me on the subjunctive form in English?
Duolingo accepts both the indicative "is" and the subjunctive "be," which I think is appropriate because although most people don't use the subjunctive anymore, some people still do.
I agree! I thought first of using the subjunctive ("be"), and then I thought, "Duolingo will probably not like it" and decided to use the more mainstream "is". I'd naturally write "It is important that it be good", but in speech I might choose to the indicative out of fear that the subjunctive should sound pedantic, but it'd depend of whom I'm speaking to.
I had a similar experience with "Vart springer katten?". My natural inclination is to say "To where does the cat run?". Luckily, Duolingo accepted it before I had the chance to think that it might not.
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"I insist that he be here."
"We asked that it be done yesterday."
"I support the recommendation that they not be punished."
"It is important that he be cured."
My English teacher told us that the subjunctive is only used in American English. We didn't learn it at school.
This isn't true, the subjunctive is still used in British English in some cases. Such as: "If I were you" (Many people incorrectly use "was" in its place), "Had I known about it, I would have done something" and other sentences formed in the same way. So it is still used in British English, it's just seen as formal speech because of the technically incorrect but more often used form of "If I would have known..." etc.
Oh, I see! I'll tell my teacher (he knows American English better than British English) about this when school starts again!
Fair enough! To be honest, even being English myself, I didn't know either until I started studying languages at university, said to one of my teachers: "I hate the subjunctive, I swear it doesn't even exist in English anymore" and I was proven oh so wrong :P
I agree. It's pretty redundant in English English. I can't speak fr American English though.
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Viktig reminds me of the German word wichtig, which means the same thing, important.
Bra is the much more common one to use to say good. If unsure, stick to bra.
God is usually used to mean tasty and referring to food.
In a handful of expressions however, god is still used to mean good. Perhaps someone with a bit more clear mind (it's almost 2 am in Sweden at the moment...) can give you a few examples.
Sorry to bother you so early in the morning. It 8 pm in Ohio.... Thank you for that. So when unsure, stick to bra?
No worries! I have a lovely report to turn in to the university in a few hours, so I'll be up anyways. :p
Yes, that should get you through most situations. Just remember god is perfectly good for referring to the taste of food. :)
in addition, "bra" when referencing food means good for you, aka healthy food!
so bra mat=healthy food, god mat=yummy food, and god mat is not always bra mat...
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So the subordinate clause keeps the usual order of words in a sentence? I expected some playing around with the second är, similar to German.
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Yes, subclauses have the subject before the verb (and inte always goes before the finite verb in subclauses). There are some pretty big differences between Swedish and German word order.
This sentence seems kinda funny to me. What is a context in which it would be used?
Perhaps:
1) Someone asks you if you would read a random book given to you.
2) Someone is interviewing a best-selling author on how they became so successful.
3) Someone jokingly says you'll read anything. You clarify by saying that it depends on the book.
I believe because it modifies the dummy subject "det" ("it"), which is an ett-word.
