51 Comments
895
It's the masculine ending -e for things that are referred to as he, but it is optional to use it. So you can just as well say Ser du den snygga mannen?
Is syngga the plural? I know that in Danish when you say "the handsome man" you'd use the adjective in the plural; does that work the same way in Swedish?
I did say that and was marked incorrect:
CORRECT RESPONSE: "Ser du den snygge mannen?"
In Berlin and elsewhere generally some people use "schnieke" e. g. for: "Handsome / good-looking"
Researching the word "schnieke", I found this:
schnieke Adj. 'schmuck', berlin. Vermutlich aus ndd. snicker 'hübsch' (mit Umlaut zu nndl. snugger 'klug', ofr. snugge 'glatt, nett', ne. snug 'behaglich') unter Einfluß der Wertadjektive auf -e und vielleicht unter Einmischung von geschniegelt (s. schniegeln) umgeformt.
It turns out it's related to English snug, too, though snug meaning handsome is dialectical (no one I know would know that meaning).
In Scottish the term is "snog" meaning trim and neat, as in "all snog and slekit worth thir bestis skynnys." Used often in ref to a ship.
It's definitely related but "snazzy" would be a closer English translation - it's mostly about the way you dress, not about natural beauty.
Is handsome the main translation of snygg? Like can a female be 'snygg' or is it odd?
Snygg is handsome, attractive, good-looking. A girl or woman can absolutely be snygg.
Note that it can be used for objects as well.
Ex: En snygg bil is a nice looking car.
Handsome is also more correlated with 'Stilig' in swedish. Stilig being a word often used too describe someone that looks good in formal wear ('Stilig' carries with it a certain sense of pride when stating it). For example: A parent would be more likely too say that his son looks 'stilig' in his suit on his wedding day than that he looks 'snygg'.
I agree. However i find handsome is used a lot more in English than stilig is used in Swedish. I think stilig is a lot more specific than handsome.
I don't disagree. Stilig might very well have been used in a broader sense a couple of decades ago the way handsome still is in english.
Why is "are you seeing the handsome man?" wrong? Maybe is not the best translation in English, but it should be acceptable shouldn't it?
I haven't thought about that meaning. I was thinking of the progressive aspect of the actual action "to see". But I'm not an English native speaker so... Grazie!
- 895
I'm glad you appreciate it. :) Some people seem to be annoyed at learning any English in here at all, which I think is kind of weird. I mean, I even find out new things about Swedish on here, not to mention how much I learn about English.
You are so right! I am not an English native speaker, so I learn and practice a lot while learning Swedish! two goals at once!
As a native English speaker, spending time here and digging into things has taught me a lot about English as well. It's fantastic.
Hmm, maybe this is colloquial but if I were out with a close female friend I might point surreptitiously to a stranger and say to my friend "are you seeing that handsome man over there?" and I would not be asking if she were dating him, I would be asking if she had noticed him and soliciting her opinion on his handsomeness. So although 'seeing' can mean dating with respect to a handsome man, it doesn't have to mean that.
why doesn't 'nice' apply here? it certainly would be used as often as cute in this context.
Snygg cannot translate to nice. It's more like "hot/handsome/good-looking".
- 1431
Duo just translated "a nice car" as "en snygg bil" so i äm confused by your comment.
hej doulingo , in tips and notes you mention that "If the noun is definite, the adjective takes the ending -a in all cases, no matter gender or number." then should it be "den snygga mannen" ?? however is it same with lille and lilla adjectives?
- 507
See Arnauti's comment above. 'Snygga' is always ok but with masculine words like mannen, killen, pojken the adjective can have the e-ending as in snygge, lille, berömde.
Do you mean the Swedish or the English sentence? It's pretty similar in both. Ser du? = Do you see?. Most germanic languages put the verb infront of the pronoun when asking questions. Du ser = You see; Ser du? = Do you see?. Theoretically it's not wrong to ask Du ser den snygge mannen?, but that would put a stress on Du and would translate to YOU see the handsome man?. Like specifically asking whether the person you are talking to does see the handsome man. I hope this helps :)
‘Mannen’ = the man So without ‘snygge’, the sentence would be ‘Ser du mannen?’
Could this also mean ‘Do you see the crazy man?’ Google translate thinks ‘snygga’ means handsome and ‘snygge’ means crazy... So is google translate wrong, or does ‘snygge’ have another meaning ?
I think snygg is my favorite Swedish word. It could be considered onomatopoeia. I'm trying to sneak it into English now.
Att ser ut betyder att ha ett utseende, inte att titta på något.
That doesn't mean the same thing. In English, if you "are seeing" someone, it means you are having romantic encounters.
Generally, for momentary situations, use the do form of a verb, e.g. "Do you see the handsome man?"
Use are + -ing for continual situations, such as "I am studying Swedish" or "I am reading the newspaper".
You may find this link useful: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerundium#Englisch
Most of the time, the do and are + -ing forms have the same general meaning, with only the time context changing. You found one of the exceptions.
I accidentally chose sandwich, making it the handsome sandwich, so is it correct?
