"Passerar vi dem?"

Translation:Are we passing by them?

December 27, 2014

19 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/jstnc

what's the difference in pronunciation of "de" vs "dem"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Arnauti

(super late answer) None, both are said as dom by the overwhelming majority of speakers.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/AWaifuSlate

What is "Did we pass them"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/gramphos

Passerade vi dem?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Nborkent

Is there a reason that "We are passing them?" is incorrect?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/gramphos

Is that really a question? Sounds more like a statement: "Vi passerar dem."


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/HeringDK

No. By putting passerar before Vi, the sentence is turned into a question. Like the difference between Vous avez and Avez vous in French.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Namor_Votilav

Would "Should we pass them" be correct in this case?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Arnauti

I think not. shall is accepted because it's ambiguous: it could mean will. But should has a modal meaning that would be borde in Swedish.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/lasolady

What if i want to ask if I pass (as someone)? Would that be 'ser jag lik ... ut?'


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Arnauti

Passing in the trans sense of the word is passera in Swedish, I'm not sure about passing as a specific person. If you speak about getting into events with age limits of different kinds, people would usually just speak about komma in instead (like, when they let you in to see a movie where the age limit is 15 but you're only 13).


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/AbirAR

Shouldn't it be, "Passerar vi genom dem? " for "Are we passing by them?" and "Passerar vi dem? " for "Are we passing them?".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Arnauti

genom only means 'through' as you could pass through a city or doorway. It's possible to add förbi in Swedish here but we're more likely to say just passerar vi (even in many cases where you'd want 'by' in English). On the other hand with verbs like går förbi or åker förbi (like, 'walk by' or 'drive by'), of course förbi is absolutely necessary to get this meaning.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Haiw0n

Is there are reason that "are we going past them?" isn't accepted?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Sarah325527

That would be "kommer vi passa de?" in future tense. This is in present


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/GlennaJo

It would have to be, "We are going to go past them." to be future tense.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/GlennaJo

That should be, "Are we going to go past them."


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/sarah912389

So when do we use förbi?

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