"Vad gör du?"
Translation:What are you doing?
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Can this be translated as "what do you do?" As in, "what do you do for work?"
It can surely mean that in a conversation, but for the sake of this duo lesson it'd probably be a little farfetched.
Could a native speaker give context how how you would use this? Is it more of an informal "hey what are you up to? What are you doing?"
Apparently, according to some that are more knowledgeable than me, but I've learned (and read) "hur står det till," and "hur är det?"
That's more asking someone how someone is feeling, rather than what activity they're engaged in. Also, the first is rather formal and polite and not something you'd be likely to come across in casual conversation. The other is much more casual and common in everyday life.
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I realize the ö in gör is pronounced like an å (or german o). Are there any rules for that?
In most words the ö is pronounced roughly like the E in bed but with lips rounded, but before an R the ö becomes an A like English apple, but with the lips rounded
I just remember the pronunciation from a pewdiepie video I watched in 8th grade. He was teaching us how to pronounce Ö and it helped me XD. The only way I can explain it is to pretend you have a carrot in your mouth.
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Not the same, you're right. But not quite like an "ö" either. Here it is also pronounced differently: http://forvo.com/word/vad_g%C3%B6r_du_i_sverige%3F/#sv
I typed 'vad gör' as a single word ('vadgör') and it was accepted; is this correct?
Yes, g has two pronunciations, one 'hard' as g (like in 'guard') and one soft as you might think of as y, like in 'yes'. The soft pronunciation occurs before the vowels e, i, y, ä, ö. There are several useful links about pronunciation in this thread: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5892805
No it isn't. In certain context it could be, but in general terms it only translates to 'What are you doing'
In the right context, for example if you walked up to someone working in the kitchen, or in a pottery class, it could absolutely mean that.
In English, "What are you doing here?" means "What brings you here?" (Greetings). Is there the same expression In Swedish?
I'm stuck with questions in this format. If I wanted to ask "What are you doing?" The first thing in my mind would be "Vad är du gör?" (I know swedish doesn't conjugate verbs so maybe "Vad du gör?"). Can someone give me an analogy or something to help me change my mindset?
We never use är together with another verb in the present, and neither do you in English. Saying du är gör is like saying you are do.
In questions, the verb must go before the subject, and the only thing that can go before the verb is a question word.
This leaves you with Vad gör du? as the only possible option.
Could this be used in casual conversation to mean "What are you up to
Why can I not also use How are you doing, if Vad also can mean how, what or that.
The hints show every possible translation of a word that occur in the course, but not every translation fits everywhere.
vad basically means 'what', but it does translate to 'how' in expressions like Vad trevligt! 'How nice!', which is why the hint says 'how', too.
If the vowel is followed by a single consonant (ie: gör, lila) then it's long.
If the vowel is followed by a double consonant (ie: björn, lilla) then it's short.
Hope that helps!
You're right, except that R + N actually only counts as one consonant, the ö is long in björn. It's because R + N melt together to form the retroflex sound, that's like one consonant.
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I notice when listen to native speakers that when askibg a question their voice doesnt go up at the end. Is that just an english thing?
In principle it should, but it might be less necessary in Swedish than in some other languages because it's normally clear anyway from word order whether it's a question or not. If you do ask a question by using a sentence that doesn't have question word order, you have to make it clear by intonation, so in those cases it's really important.
Is this a common thing for swedish sentences to have different meanings (question, statement) according to the intonation?
I wouldn't say so. It might come up in a few cases ("tycker om" can mean "has an opinion about" if you emphasise the "tycker" and "likes" if you emphasise the "om") but I wouldn't really call it a big part of the Swedish language.
Use du when addressing a single person and nI for more than one, like 'you all' in some versions of English.
Most Germanic languages, other than English, use to do very sparingly. Germans will say Was machst du. Danes often use laver. Is this true with Swedish gör as well?
In English, they use do to form questions and negated statements. But in other Germanic languages such as German or the Scandinavian languages, we don't need do for that.
'Do you know?' -> Vet du?
'I do not know.' -> Jag vet inte.
Less 'do' for us. :)
The Swedish sentence doesn't mean that, it only literally means 'What are you doing?'.
Because that is far, far too colloquial and also not what the phrase means. :)
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This isn't a question about this sentence, but I am in the Ruby League and my last 65 points have not registered. I can't see how to post this in the Troubleshooting. I can see general questions but not how to post a new question. Help!
In the troubleshooting forums (https://forum.duolingo.com/topic/647), there's a button at the top that says "New post".
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Not related to this but testing out of a topic and failing, resulting in the sad owl and the mocking trumpet music is discouraging. Not helpful.
Please bring that up in the general forums. It's unlikely to change anything, but we have absolutely zero say over that in the course.
