"Ett svenskt hus är vanligtvis rött."
Translation:A Swedish house is usually red.
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There are a lot of red houses. However, perhaps "often" would be a more appropriate adverb than "usually." Let's see what people say who live there, though.
To me, ofta makes it sound a bit like the houses would change colors, which I guess they do sometimes when they're repainted, but still… It is however true that the typical house in the countryside in Sweden is red. This is because of Falu koppargruva, where copper has been mined since the age of the vikings, and using that copper, the typical color falu red is made.
Well, I didn't do too well understanding the Falu koppargruva article, so I tried Chrome's automatic translation button at the top. Here is one of the resulting paragraphs:
When in 1719 emptied a 500 foot deep reduction, marten mine, which for many years been under water, was found where the corpse of a miner Mats Israelsson, commonly called Fet-Mats , who 42 years earlier gone alone into the thin and then died. Upon resumption was the vitriolhaltiga water genomlakade body yet soft. He then became hard as rock and stored for many years as a great curiosity, but did eventually decompose and was then with great honor buried in Stora Kopparberg old church in 1749. [ 6 ] The rest did not last long, they would do if the church floor and was Had to move on Fet-Mats. His leg was put in a box as one moved up to the attic where he was forgotten. In the 1930s, they found the box with Mats when you did on the wind and he got his funeral year 1934th.
Fat Mats is a legendary figure, who even has his own Wikipedia article in English here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fet-Mats
His horrible fate inspired many authors.
Wow, his story almost became a Wagner opera! But parts of the English article seem to contradict the Swedish. As soon as the Swedish course has immersion, I am going to post that article!
Hey, look! Google translate has gotten a little better... "When a 500-foot-deep depression, the Mårdskinnsgruvan, which had been under water for many years, was emptied in 1719, the body was found there by the miner Mats Israelsson, usually called Fet-Mats , who 42 years earlier had gone down into the barrel alone and then died. At the time of uptake, the body permeated by the vitriol-containing water was still soft. He then became hard as stone and was kept for many years as a great curiosity, but finally began to disintegrate and was then buried with great honor in Stora Kopparberg's church in 1749. [ 6 ]The rest did not last long; they had to redo the church floor and had to move to Fet-Mats. His legs were placed in a box that was moved up to the attic where he was forgotten. In the 1930s, the box with Mats was found when the attic was redone and he was buried in 1934."
Mycket intressant, tack. Using "often" in English doesn't make me think of the house changing colors, but I guess the sentence could be changed to "many Swedish houses are red."
Late answer, but for those who are curious the reason that red is a rather common color in Sweden for houses (and barns, that's where the stereotypical red barn with white trim comes from) has to do with the historical prevalence of copper mining as a major aspect of the Swedish economy. The classic red color used is a pigment produced from the byproducts of the copper refining process and originally was produced mostly in Falun. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falu_red for a bit more info.
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Oh, thanks! I thought it's kind of law and people should paint it red whether they like it or not.
What would be more idiomatic in Swedish: "Ett svenskt hus är vanligtvis rött" or "Svenska hus är vanligtvis röda"? In English, I believe, it would be more natural to use the latter: "Swedish houses are usually red."
ett hus - ett svenskt hus
en bil - en svensk bil
huset -> det svenska huset
bilen -> den svenska bilen
plural:
svenska hus, svenska bilar
de svenska husen, de svenska bilarna
Because we needed a seven-letter word with only one vowel for our daily Swedish tonguenastics workout :)
Ahaha, I was wondering that. I'm living in Skåne right now and was really struggling to think of any red houses in the area
Some of these things are just arbitrary. Isn't "ordinarily" an acceptable translation of vanligtvis?
generally ( allmanhet) and usually (vanligtvis) mean the same?. or if not. what would be the case?
I think "a Swedish house is often red," would also be an appropriate translation
Hej! Is the k in svenskt (and in words with the same ending) pronounced? I read somewhere that it is usually not, but the voice here does. Is a TTS thing, or is what I read not true? Or maybe it's only true when speaking fast or in informal settings? Tack på förhand!
