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- "Har du det bekvämt?"
63 Comments
"Have you got" must just be the British version of the question and both (Do you have it comfortable? And Have you got it comfortable?) should be fine without ruining the structure
I'm not an expert on Swedish grammar, but I believe it's a dummy object simply because the construction "har [pronoun] det [adverb]" happens to require it. Just a quirk of grammar.
Although I can understand the general meaning of the phrase, putting "are you comfortable" into "Google Translate" gives "är du bekväm". Now I realise that bekvämt is an adjective and bekväm is an adverb, but putting in "Are you happy/angry/uneasy ..." results in "Är du glad / arg / orolig ...", so what's going on here?
It's the same thing as in the question "Hvordan har du det?" — How are you? (Norwegian actually, but the same). When in English it's said "I am ", in Swedish it's either "jag " or "jag har det ". E. g.:
i am cold — jag fryser
i am good (answer to "how are you") — jag har det bra/god
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In german: Hast Du es bequem? Anstelle von Bist Du bequem?, or are you comfortable (to lie on) or or are you (feeling) comfortable. Words in brackets added to sjow the diffrent meaning.
Have you it comfortable. Is there any way of figuring out when to use such a word order? It sounds extremely archaic in english. I just need help with when to say certain things in a certain order.
Compare with a sentence such as "Is it comfortable to you?" The det serves the same purpose as the "it" in that sentence, so it's necessary for the Swedish construction.
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The first one is not possible. The other one, if you change it to är du bekväm, is grammatically correct, but doesn't really mean the same thing as the above sentence. What you'd usually say is är du bekväm med detta ('are you comfortable with this'); it's an anglicism but people use it.
More like "Do you have it comfortably". "Bekvämt" is an adverb, not a noun. The closest noun would be "bekvämlighet", which is essentially the feeling of being comfortable/at ease.
does this literally mean "have you it comfortable?" which could roughly be structured as 'have you comfort?". why is this structured in this way?
I don't think there really is a concrete reason other than that just happens to be how the language works.
Can somebody explain to me why this sentence means '"are you comfortable"? I mean why is "har" here and not "är"? And what's the point of having "det" in this sentence?
Is the logic: "Du HAR DET bekvämt eftersom soffan ÄR bekväm." (You are comfortable because the sofa is comfortable.)?
Almost, it would be "Känner du dig bekväm". Subject form comes before the object form in reflective verbs.
"comfort" usually means something slightly different, as in support of others, e.g. when mourning the death of someone. But "bekväm" only translates into comfortable.
does this literally mean "have you it comfortable?" which could roughly be structured as 'have you comfort?". why is this structured in this way?
I think i can understand the grammatical logic behind this sentence. bekvämt is adverb, In English it then should roughly work as "Does it feel comfortably?" (in case of shoes for ex.). While "Ar du bekväm" expresses more a property of a person to be comfortable for someone else, as i feel... Correct me, admins.
I'm not an expert on grammar rules myself, but as a native Swedish speaker I believe that's about it.
Do you have the comfort? The structure is different if we're talking about people who are comfortable rather than objects?
Does bekväm mean comfortable in any context? For example: asking if a person is comfortable with a question being asked or asking if they are comfortable in a chair?
It could be used for your first example, though according to Arnauti above that's the English construction being sort of assimilated into Swedish.
Why are some phrases using har and others use är? skorna är bekvärma is an answer on here meaning the shoes are comfortable. Why when asking if someone is comfortable is it not "är du bekvämt?" and why does it become har du det bekvämt? Is it when asking about people its just har and things its är?
From what I've read here I think I understand the structure and reasoning of it (är du vs this), but the only thing I'm confused about now is the intent of this question because of that structure. Are we asking this to establish physical comfort? As in is the person comfortable sitting in that chair? Or are we talking emotionally -- is that person comfortable with talking about a trauma for example? Or, like in English, are we just using context to know and people don't really ask using "är du...?"
The german counterpart of 'bekväm' is 'bequem'.
I know swedes use 'kv' instead of 'qu'. which I really love that they do so.
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I think that a similar German translation of this sentence is "Hast du es bequem?". Swedish and German have so many similarities, that makes it quite easy to learn.
We have actually two words in German: Bequem and gemütlich.
I'm as a German really never heard this way of talking. I heard this instead:
"Hast du es dir gemütlich gemacht?"
Har du det bekvämt.
For instance the swedes don't say "har du det dig bekvämt".
So bequem we use it like this:
Das Sofa ist bequem. The sofa is comfortable.
Ich war bequem zu Hause. I was comfortable at home.
Ich lag gemütlich in meinem Bett. I was laying comfortably in my bed.
Gemütlich = Comfortably Bequem = Comfortable
But sometimes we use Bequem as Comfortably.
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I'm also a German and I didn't really think about that the words "bequem" und "gemütlich" are not the same. But you may be right. I think I have also heard the sentence "Hast du es bequem". For example if someone is lying in bed ill and you want to make sure the person feel comfortable, you can say "Hast du es bequem" I guess.
I see a lot kf different answers in the comments so im gunna ask again. Why is the sentence structure the way it is here? Is bekvämt like physicaly comfortable like a couch would be? Or like, emotional comfort? Im a little lost here and the comments havent helped me a ton on this question.
It's physically comfortable, as in e.g. a cosy sofa or a comfortable chair. A more literal translation might be "Do you have it comfortable?" but Swedish doesn't use "do" for questions like English does, so it's more like "Have you it comfortable?"
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Tanya Basto stated above that Swedes do not say "har du det dig bekvämt". However, I believe we have seen the sentence: "Har du det bekvämt?" I assume one can ask this question referring to a sofa or a new apartment. Am I correct? Also, can one say that his situation is comfortable, meaning that he has enough money and use "bekvämt"?
Yes, you're right, although furniture would be much more likely than apartment. It's mainly about how comfortable your body is, not your mind. It does extend to other scenarios as well, but it's hard to tell any reasons or rules - I wouldn't normally use it in the sense of having enough money, although I might use it as a describing adjective: en bekväm tillvaro.
O.K., so I'm going to say what I know others are thinking. I would have written "Ar du bekvemt?" That said, it is just more common to use "Har du det bekvamt?"
It'd be är du bekväm? without the t, and that's accepted but not quite as idiomatic.
Thanks so much! You always give such great explanations. Much appreciated, friend.
This seems to be more of an expression, at least to me. But can it mean both being comfortable (with one's lifestyle) as well as being comfortable (while sitting on a comfy sofa or lying on a soft bed) ???
