"Vi gick på bio."

Translation: We went to the cinema.

[Sjodni]

Where is "the" here?

[friswing]

Without article the sentence has a general meaning - the phrase is "gick på bio", when talking about the 'activity' /went to watch a movie/. With article you are talking about a specific movie or movie theater, and then you can use "gick till bion" (e.g. the one we had talked about, a specific title or theatre).

[ErixTheRed]

And yet, "we went to a movie" was not accepted. I'll report it, i guess

[friswing]

Well, I don't know if there is any difference between "watched a movie" and "went to a movie" in English (except for the use of different verbs). But in Swedish it would be: tittade på en film (watching a film = anywhere, maybe at home) versus åkte till en bio, the latter implying the movie-theatre in itself,

[exqeriment]

Same differrence in English. The first thing that pops into my head when I hear went to a movie is went to the theater.

[muhidinmuh2]

I made the same mistakes. Didnt write "the" even thought my knowledge of English pulled me to write "the" but I know that determine in Swedish for "bio" is "bion" and i wrote without "the" and it was wrong answer. But I also encountered this situation several times. And asked about it. The answer I got is that there are some situations in Swedish in which it's implied tgat it's determine, and one should "get it"... :) yeah i know...

[Vevlira]

Why is "We walked to the cinema" not accepted here? I recently read a lot of discussion about åkte and gick and why gick wasn't an acceptable answer, because it would mean "walked". So, I thought I'd try "walked" out here... and it's not accepted?

[friswing]

Yes, you can read what I wrote above, but also - you are stressing 'how' you got to the movie, you 'walked', in Swedish we then change the preposition "gick TILL". 'Gå PÅ bio' is a general activity you can reach as well by bus, subway or car. Otherwise you would be up on the roof of the movietheatre.

[Vevlira]

Thank you! So if I understand you correctly, this sentence could theoretically be translated as "We walked on the cinema", but that's a bit far fetched? (but might actually make sense in certain situations)

[friswing]

Exactly ! :-) BUT, there is always a 'but', we would need to write 'bion'
- definite form - since it is a specific building we are walking on top of.

[Vevlira]

Thanks again! :)

[BertBerw]

YES! Everything makes sense now!

[Arnauti]

I think friswings comment above explains this very well.

[Vevlira]

Thank you. I read her comment, but didn't think it would apply to my question. It makes sense now, though.

[britt668621]

So i get "the" missing in general statements like went to movie or went to restaurant. Would leaving out "the" be acceptable in any situation. Went to hospital, went to store etc, etc.

[Ragnar_the_Rat]

Why is "We walked to the cinema" wrong?

[exqeriment]

Look above.

[AkuAku2]

"We walked to the cinema" should be right aswell since gå translates primalily to 'to walk' whereas åka translates to 'to go'

[Eithan89]

Why not till?

[friswing]

Only if you are talking about a specific movie theatre, mentioned before, 'Vi gick till bion vid parken' (We went to the cinema by the park). 'Gå på bio' is the activity, not the place.