"Kocken lägger lite smör i stekpannan."

Translation: The cook is putting some butter in the frying pan.

[KarolKocys]

I get that "i" is "in" but wouldn't it make more sense in English to put butter on the pan, not in the pan? Not a native speaker of either language so maybe someone can explain.

[Arnauti]

Both English and Swedish tend to use på/on in cases where you put things on top of something which has a flat top surface, and i/in in cases where you put something into something that is more like a container. The frying pan is not seen as totally flat here, but more as a container. The butter can be liquid and still stay in the frying pan.

A typically flat thing is a cutting board (en skärbräda), if you'd put the butter there it would be on/på respectively.

[pekarekr]

I have a lid for my frypan, and the butter is placed on the frying surface but in the pan.

[jbrains762]

Översätts här "lite" bara som "some" eller kan man också förstå det som "a little"?

[Arnauti]

Both work.

[Jeanbean425734]

In Swedish, is "some" the same as "a little"? In English, they are different.

[devalanteriel]

It covers both - there's some overlap, at least. We accept a few other variations as well.

[Jeanbean425734]

Thank you!
In that case, maybe "a little" should be accepted in this sentence.

[devalanteriel]

It is. :)

[caramelmel_]

I wrote "The cook adds a little bit of butter into the frying pan" as I struggled to find a relevant word for 'lite' without referencing a 'piece' or 'bit'. And to me, 'some' doesn't specifically mean that it is little. Maybe "The cook adds a small amount of butter into the frying pan."?

And is it ok to use 'lägger' as 'placed' instead of 'put'? Put feels a bit generic.