"Why is your aunt eating turtles?"

Translation: Varför äter din moster sköldpaddor?

[jaiirapetjan]

Now we know why Swedish aunts are almost called "monsters" -- because they eat turtles.

[tobytwoteds]

You made me exhale loudly through my nose, thank you for this comment XD

[SyniDaniLo]

and ants :D

[avenaceous]

Duolingo asks the important questions.

[Ollyfer]

Duo is one smart owl indeed. This must be so because he is reading books in the Dutch course.

[Noctivigant]

This is a serious question that needs an answer.

[aline-de-boer]

This is something I wanted to know my whole life already

[RainJae]

Seriously is eating turtles common? Duolingo keeps suggesting i eat them

[Iddie6]

Some cultures believe turtle soup is good for the skin.

[ahferroin7]

Historically yes in numerous parts of the world. Especially in island nations throughout the south Pacific and the Caribbean.

[MichalisDimi]

Poor turtles...

[JamesKenne424791]

Maybe they mean turtles the candy. Turtles turtles yak yak yak. Turtles turtles turtles ha ha ha.

[Ollyfer]

Not necessarily in Sweden, but I think that in the Far East, especially in South-East Asia, this may not be an all-too-unusual eating habit. But I cannot warrant for the correctness of my rumour.

[doggiedogdog]

My Swedish husband says that Swedish aunts eat turtles because it makes them smell good and nephews and nieces like the smell of turtles!

[evie0097]

Why can't it be Varför din moster äter sköldpaddor?

[Arnauti]

In questions, the verb always goes before the subject. The only thing that can go before the verb is a question word (like varför in this case) or a phrase that functions as a question word.

[evie0097]

Tack!

[hulkbot776357434]

Tak din I am screenshoting that

[melissbroadway]

Why is faster not accepted? It also means "aunt"

[jennifer856684]

I asked the same question

[Eszter-m]

I'm confused about this sentence all right...

[devalanteriel]

I'm a member of the contributors team, and I'm confused too. :p

[jennifer856684]

why is it moster and not faster

[devalanteriel]

Either is fine.

[MaryBeth378619]

Because if she was 'faster' she could catch something to eat other than a turtle

[MaranataMan]

Underrated.

[Joe447174]

Because they're nice and crunchy.

[KamranWali]

Looks like someone joined The Foot Clan.

[DaddyDerickAli]

Protein

[MatthewYung]

Can we also say 'Varför är din moster äter sköldpaddor?'

[devalanteriel]

No, remember that Swedish doesn't use the continuous construction.

[MatthewYung]

Hmm, I must've missed that part, or completely forgotten it.
Could you explain it please?

[devalanteriel]

English can express a verb like "she eats" in a continuous sense: "she is eating". Swedish cannot - we don't have that option grammatically. So both of those translate to the same thing: hon äter.

[CosmicViking]

Good response, I knew this but haven't been able to put it into words. :)

[MatthewYung]

Tackar!

[Sploofifi]

Varför äter sköldpaddor din moster? could that be acceptable or it changes the meaning of the sentence?

[devalanteriel]

That would change the meaning to ask why turtles are eating your aunt.

[Soldier0021]

Moster is remembered as monster from now on

[Marina387958]

First they trolled us with "moose" and "mouse" in the same lesson. Not it's "ant" and "aunt". I wonder what comes next

[MaryBeth378619]

Why is your turtle eating aunts?

[HerwigLiev]

What's the difference between faster and moster?

[devalanteriel]

• faster is a contraction of far + syster, i.e. paternal aunt
• moster is a contraction of mor + syster, i.e. maternal aunt