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- "Vart går du?"
85 Comments
Vart is generally used to ask ''which direction''. And the answer always includes ''till''. Vart går du? jag går till stan.
Ah, so var är du (where are you). And vart går du (where are you going)
as below, går is generally walking, åker is usually by some other method of transportation i.e. bus, car, train, etc
So, In my opinion "Vart går du?" should be translated as: "Where are you walking to?" . Am i right?
It could be, yes. But it is also used in the context "Where are you going?", when the mode of travel is unspecified or unknown.
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Thank you for clarifying. After all the comments (above and in other lessons) stating that går is always walk and åker is any other movement except walking I got a little confused here.
would går also apply for folks who must travel with temporary or permanent mobility aids? I have often noticed it stated that går is generally walking, but I am also curious if går or åker covers the concept of moving oneself for example with crutches, cane, and/or wheelchair.
Great question! If you are primarily using your legs in some way, you use går - so that includes crutches (kryckor) and canes (käppar), but you'd use åker for a wheelchair (rullstol).
That would work as well. ”Vart går du” imo implies going by walking.
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vart with direction, var with location. The question is 'Where are you going to', what's your goal.
If it's of any help in Spanish it is like the difference between "dónde (location)" and "adónde (direction)". Hope it's uselful!
I also asked this but only got downrated. I've heard it very often from native speakers, especially when talking to their children. Such as my partner and our daughter. She doesn't really have an explanation for the difference, though.
It's hard to explain, but my best estimate is "Vart går du?" is akin to "Where are you currently going?" while "Vart ska du?" is more like "Where are you planning on going?"
I have reported "where do you walk?" should be accepted. In case I am mistaken, anyone could explain why not?
Var? is "where?" "at what place?" Vart is "to where?", "to what place?" ,"whither? in earlier English. Varifrån is "from what place?", "whence?" in older English. But in English you may drop the "to" and the "from" and in Swedish you may not.
Any thoughts on the connection between the Swedish var / varts and the Dutch waar / waarts? I'm curious, as waarts in Dutch is used almost exlusively as a suffix (e.g. heenwaarts, bergafwaarts, oostwaarts, neerwaarts) and even then sounds dated. This isn't the case for vart?
It's an archaic word meaning "to where", like in "To where do you go?"
It's not in the default translation though.
It's spelled whither (wither is a completly different word which is still used). It's been explained a few times in other comments on this page but there is a difference between "where" and "to where", just as there is a difference between "var" and "vart". The default translation does not use "whither" and so you need not worry yourself about it. It only suggests it if it thought you typed something close. However, "whither" absolutely does mean "to where" and does not mean just "where", which is why it is accepted as a correct translation for "vart".
Can someone explain what the difference is between gör and gar (with the circle :P )
Do vs Go
Var går du? - Where are you going?
Vad gör du? - What are you doing? (or What are you making?).
How am I supposed to hear the difference between "Vart går du?" and "Vad gör du?"
Well, å is like the vowel sound in "lore", and ö is a little like the sound in "burn". Also, the g in går is hard and the g in gör is soft.
No problem. :) By the way, you mean tror - tycker means to think as in having an opinion.
The English is bad grammar, ending in a preposition! To where are you going? would be grammatically correct. In practice, Where are you going? is acceptable and correct.
Please, no prepositions ending sentences!
We don't really subscribe to that rule of grammar in this course. You'll encounter many sentences ending in prepositions. And though the rule is debated in English, please note that Swedish gladly accepts sentence-final prepositions.
In any event, nobody I know would ever say, "where are you going to?" It sounds wrong. The [to] is implied by Where.
We do commonly hear, "where are you coming from?"
I think different natives may have different ideas about that. For instance, the exact phrase "Where are you going to?" has over 18 million hits on Google, which is a huge amount.
But we do accept the prepositionless version as well.
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I'm from Southeastern Pennsylvania, and almost everyone ends their sentences in prepositions when asking questions like this. "Where are you going to?" "Where are you at?" "Where should we go to?" These are all everyday phrases around here. It doesn't sound funny and no one would correct you.
Regional differences! I'm in the SF Bay Area, where it sounds... as though it needs correction.
why did the program not accept the words whither and whereto( those words still have the' to which place' meaning),I believe that vart means literally whereto
Most likely because those words are kind of old-fashioned to say the least, and very few if any native English speakers would use them when "where" is an option.
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"Where are you going to?" is not a good English translation, although I've heard it used. It identifies the speaker as poorly educated. English it is not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition.
That is discouraged in formal writing but you describe a largely prescriptivist view that does not match how the everyday language is used by perfectly normal people, whether poorly or well educated. You will find that the course doesn't care much about where prepositions are put - especially if the Swedish sentence does use a sentence-final preposition, in which case it can be pedagogical.
I'll stick my neck out and agree.
Also, to devalanteriel, just because people do it, doesn't make it right. People throw garbage onto the street regularly. Will I? Never.
Just to check my understanding, Swedish does not care where a preposition lands? Interesting. I shall strive to retain this rule.
Hey everybody clinging to the crumbling foundation of "proper English": you're not more edgy or intelligent than anyone else and were all here to learn an entirely different language so can y'all sit down and quit clogging up the usually helpful comments with your insufferable pedantry
Upset? It's important to understand grammar in order to learn a new language.
Even when we don't follow the rules, it's critical to know the rules in order to translate concepts from other languages. Normally English speakers don't need to know nothing 'bout nothing else. Learning languages, knowing parts of speech is essential, not edgy.
....which is fine in everyday speech, just not in formal writing. It's based on the belief that English should mirror Latin: https://newrepublic.com/article/113187/grumpy-grammarian-dangling-preposition-myth
Ah, this may be true, but it's based on the knowledge that this is how English is taught in schools by teachers. Or it was when I was young SO long ago. But since they gave up teaching cursive handwriting, it surprises me not a wit they may have given up on dangling prepositions.
As a former professional writer, when I came up with a sentence which ended with a preposition, I would rewrite the sentence - not just move the preposition.
"Another translation" says Vart gar du? Means "Where are you going to?" This is grammatically incorrect and almost never used. "Where are you going?" Is the only correct English translation. The "to" on the end is implied and redundant.
I typed "where are u going" and it was incorrect. Too bad the checking algorithm is old shcool.
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Personally, I sure wish I could type that too. However, typo/variant spelling handling for English is done automatically by Duo, so if you want to campaign for this, do it in the general forums. I'll be sure to upvote u. :)
If Oxford can't be considered an authority on "Proper" English, I don't know who can. The comments backed their claims with Oxford references.
Like I said to you before, Oxford also said their word of the year last year was a crying emoji. It's incorrect. Bye now.
Shakespeare did it, and so has everyone else who did not mislearn the non-rule against it. I'm sorry that all of them, plus the university that has taught English for a millennium, aren't enough authority to convince you but let's keep this relevant to the forum. Duolingo is correct. If they removed the preposition, it would only serve to add confusion to people learning the difference between var and vart.
That's nonsense. Ending on a preposition is perfectly fine in contemporary English as well as historically.
Perhaps I just went to good schools? I can assure you Miss, that the statement I made was true, regardless of your personal experience or opinion on worldwide contemporary English.
It's just a common grammar urban legend really. Even the Oxford Dictionary has debunked it. It's just a remnant of wishful thinking from latin-inspired 17th century brits.
I think you read my initital comment too quickly.
"We were taught not to end a sentence with a preposition."
To which you repplied, "That's nonsense."
No, you are incorrect. I was indeed taught that, and no amount of cutting and pasting from a quick Google search on your part will change that. Your argument is based on your opinion and a Google search while mine is a statement made from experience. One can never negate the other. If anything, this has provided insight into language's dynamism.
This was fun! Have a nice day :-)
Apart from that the act of mentioning something means you want to bring said something into an argument, maybe? And the fact that "that's nonsense" was referring to what you were taught and not the fact you were taught it? And the fallback to "I never even meant that" when your point is disproven? That's what trolls do, by the way.
...Never mind, this has dragged on long enough either way
SophiaBonita. Yeah, I was taught that as well in grammar school and high school in the US. Imagine my surprise when, as a linguistics major in college who studied English historical linguistics, I found that that rule was indeed nonsense. If you read the historical documents, you find that English has always used "prepositions" at the end of sentences, and it was indeed some Latin scholastic pedants who tried to impose Latin grammar on English. Furthermore, a lot of the so called prepositions are actually not functioning as prepositions at all, but rather comprise a two-part verb. For example: "Slow down" and "slow up" BOTH are imperatives to go more slowly, but there is no up or down direction implied in their usage. English has many such verbs, and the pedants of my youth tried to get us to avoid using them as well. I like Winston Churchill's supposed statement on this when he was criticized for ending a sentence with a preposition: "This is the type of errant pedantry up with which I will not put."
Do the good schools teach not to put the comma in "you, Miss," as well? That statement was somebody's high-brow joke, no more. To support this: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-prepositions/
Duolingo doesn't require you to end your answer with a preposition; I think you're OK either way.
The comma you missed is not a comma-splice, whether it's there or not, but Duolingo doesn't appear to care about commas; perhaps here noone should.
The person you addressed as 'Miss' would require the masculine honorific, if any at all. I think that would be 'Herr' vs 'Fröken' in Svenska.
To me, it looks like you read the comment too quickly and wrongly assumed yours had been read too quickly. The moderator was actually being nice by answering you and I don't think you appreciated that.
