"I cannot find my toothbrush."
Translation:Jag hittar inte tandborsten.
15 Comments
839
I wrote something about this here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5741592
Does anyone know the rule for replacing the possessive adjective (my) with definite article (the) as is done in Swedish in this sentence. I know this is correct since it's very commonly heard. When else does Swedish do this...say, apart from body parts? (Jag har ont i benet = My leg hurts.)
I've been trying to figure out a rule for as long as I've been helping teach Swedish, but I honestly have nothing - only that it's most common for body parts, as you say.
- 839
Of course. hinna is to 'make it in time', so that doesn't fit here. But finna is a more old-fashioned or formal alternative to hitta, meaning find, so that works too.
I just misspelled it here. I meant hitta and wrote hitta in the app, but it didn't accept it.
- 839
Jag kan inte hitta min tandborste and Jag kan inte hitta tandborsten are two of very many accepted translations here, what did you put exactly? You can't use hitta on its own since its in the infinitive. Either you use the present hittar inte or you add the auxiliary kan and say kan inte hitta.
I know I wrote "Jag kan inte hitta min tandborste" and it didn't accept hitta, but wanted to have finna.
Jag kan inte hitta min tandborste works fine.
Jag kan inte hitta på min tandborsten means "I can't fabricate my the toothbrush". :)
