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- "Makten ligger i politikernas…
"Makten ligger i politikernas händer."
Translation:The power is in the hands of the politicians.
33 Comments
politics = politik (first syllable should be stressed): http://sv.forvo.com/search-sv/Politik/
politician = politiker (second syllable should be stressed): http://sv.forvo.com/search-sv/Politiker/
the politicians' = politikernas (second syllable should be stressed): http://sv.forvo.com/search-sv/politikernas/
I know this is long ago, but I can't help but to point out that "politik" is stressed on the last syllable.
182
I translated this as "the politicians' hands" but was told I have a typo, and that the correct response is "politicians hands" (without an apostrophe). I don't understand why. What am not seeing?
Any time you correctly use a plural possessive apostrophe, Duolingo complains that you've made a typo yet still accepts the answer as correct. This bug affects every sentence with plural possession in every course, as far as I know. It's been so for at least two years, so I'm honestly starting to doubt it'll ever get fixed.
Should "The power resides in the hands of the politicians" be accepted? (it isn't). I'm not a native English speaker so I don't really know.
Well, we've only had six public referendums ever, and the government must not necessarily respect the choice. So not very direct. :)
You may find this link interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referendums_in_Sweden
- 78
The word for word translation of the English is "i politikernas händerna". Why is it not the original sentence?
Two reasons.
\1. English has two ways of expressing possession:
- the x of y
- the y's x
Swedish doesn't have the first one, though - only the second.
\2. For direct possession (the y's x), definite agreement is not needed. It's actually the same in English - you wouldn't say "in the politicians' the hands".
I used the word bank and chose "The power is in the politicians hands" and figured Duolingo had made a typo by forgetting the apostrophe after "politicians."
I suggest allowing on one translation for the word bank: "The powers is in the politicians' hands." Remove "of" to avoid confusion.
I would agree, but unfortunately, the word bank is generated automatically by the system. The contributors cannot affect it in any way. :(
isn't "in the hands of politicians" enough? In other word isn't "the" superfluous?
It's more idiomatic in the definite in Swedish, but there can be a difference in meaning, so hence the somewhat less idiomatic translation.
Off-topic, but this is a bad attitude and the inverse should be true!
i.e.
"Makten ligger i människornas händer."
There's a sentence about that, too. :) I think the sentence is I en demokrati ligger makten hos folket, or similar.
"The" almost always precedes "power" in English, except in idioms like "Power corrupts". "He had all the power" and "The power is running low" are a couple of examples.
Makten is in the definite, so you need to translate it into the definite as well. Otherwise it would just be Makt.
Well, this statement contradict your statement in a previous excercise: 'Ar American cars good?' where using the full article for American has been marked wrong and the explanation has been - no need to translate word for word, as this is A General statement where no article is needed in English... well... what can I say, (the) power is in the hands of the teachers! :)
What? Makten = "The power", Makt = "Power". It's not the case of idiomatic differences.
