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då is often connected to interrogatives to reinforce the meaning of it; vad då?, vem då?, hur då?, and so on. This is especially common (dare I say more or less the norm?) when using the interrogative word independently, as in the sentence above.
I think its needed to add this explanation to all sentences with då :) in this lesson
Since då means 'then', I think that translates to 'hi then' like 'see you later'.
It means literally then, and it's a little word that us Swedes like to throw into the end of a question, especially in informal cases. Its use is a bit weird, but we're currently working on an explanation of why we use it the way we do.
It seems to have a direct analogue in German as "denn" - e.g. "Wer denn?" where it is used to make the question sound less like a command/demand. Just asking "Wer?", "Wo?" etc. sounds somewhat harsh and impolite. Does då have a similar function in Swedish, or is it a grammatical "false friend"?
Just because words don't share a similar meaning doesn't mean they're not true cognates. "Cognate" just means that they're etymologically related, but their meanings could still have diverged to be rather different.
Why o why the correct answer here in this app is the only one that starts with a capital letter? That makes the answer obvious. Come on.
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This is a general Duo thing and nothing we as course creators can influence. You should bring it up in the general forums, I'm sure a lot of people agree with you. (I do).
Ironically if someone said 'Who then?' to me it would sound more passive aggressive to me than just saying 'who'
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There's another use of då, at the end of questions longer than one word, that is often used to express impatience. So då in Vem då? is neutral and carries no meaning, but if you add a second då, you get a more impatient question: Vem då då? which might be translated as 'Who then?'
Also see what I just wrote in response to hoyunmyoun, that's my current theory.
I thought "vem då?" is used when you interrupt someone while he is saying something like: "det gjorde han inte..." so you ask Surprisingly: "vem då?!!"
We have a for of då in Kiswahili: "basi".
Where? - Wapi basi? Who? - Nani basi? How much - Ngapi basi
What exactly does "då" mean in this sentence? More like 'preposition' or 'determiner' in English??
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Neither really. I think it's a lot to do with intonation. Two syllables are more comfortable than one for us. For instance we like to "shorten" one-syllable names into two-syllable nicknames. So people who are called Per, Stig, or Lars can be called Pelle, Stickan, and Lasse informally – and somehow that feels easier to say.
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Typically you'll hear vem as a one-word question from children and teenagers. You can hear it from adults too sometimes but the version with då is more common.
In the audio test I couldn't hear the då at all. Even after I'd seen the answer and knew it was there. Is that a true reflection of how to pronounce it (lower volume, no accent, like an afterthought) or a TTS issue?
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I hear då kind of weakly. It should always be stressed in this kind of short questions, so the TTS isn't good.
We have a for of då in Kiswahili: "basi".
Where? - Wapi basi? Who? - Nani basi? How much - Ngapi basi?
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No, the version with då is more common and is the standard version in short questions like this.
'Who then' is not an accepted answer and I think it should be. For example, if you say 'He didn't do it!' the other person might ask 'Vem då?' (Who did it then?). Please correct me if I'm wrong.
