"De äter sill och potatis varje dag."
Translation:They eat herring and potatoes every day.
44 Comments
63
I just wanted to thank you for the Food 2 section. Most other food sections in DL are americentric; why is learning how to say 'a turkey' in Italian more important than learning about Italian cuisine and culture. You, however, have chosen to introduce us a more relevant vocabulary; people in Sweden and Finland actually eat food like this. I applaud you. clap clap clap
~ Contributor's Note on herring in Sweden ~
The fish Herring (clupea harengus) can be called either sill or strömming in Swedish, and they mean the same. The difference is that strömming is caught in the Baltic sea north of a line between the Polish coast and Kalmar, a city on the coast in southeastern Sweden. Consequently, sill is caught in the waters south and west of Sweden. Generally, herring caught in the south and west is a little bit fattier and tend to have shorter heads and perhaps a couple more vertebrae, but they're the same species nonetheless.
Because of this geographical divide, you'd eat strömming och potatis in Stockholm, but sill och potatis in Gothenburg, for example.
I thought most fish sold on the east coast actually is shipped in from West Sweden because of pollution in the Baltic Sea? At least that is what I am told in Uppsala.
Looking in some dictionaries, I see that the word potatis has the normal endings of a common gender noun -en -ar beside it. How does potatis work as the plural here?
- 884
It has a normal plural, but when we speak about eating it, we usually use it as a mass noun anyway. It's actually the same way with sill, it is en sill, sillen, plural sillar, sillarna, but we still say De äter sill.
Then here's some reading for you! Since time immemorial, it's been an important part of Swedish food, and it remains popular today. :)
Hoping this isn't too off topic: Whenever we go to our Russian friends for dinner, they have herring and potatoes - is this combination common in the cuisine of that entire North-Eastern Europe and Russia region?
My grandmother grew up in pre-WWI East Prussia. Their variation on the German imperial hymn (incidentally sung to the same tune as "God Save the Queen") was "Heil dir im Siegeskranz, Kartoffeln und Heringsschwanz".
Russian word for herring is much closer to swedish sill ( сельдь = sield') and yes we like it we have special salad which is very popular and traditional for new year parties (and other holiday dinners) in all regions of Russia, it is called "herring under shuba"(fur coat) and contains herring, mashed potatoes, carrots and beet with sour cream on top which is Shuba for herring (rödbets|sallad)
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It's [сельдь] a loan word from Swedish in Russian. I've had шуба in Russia. The traditional Russian cuisine is very similar to what the traditional Swedish cuisine used to be like.
I think what JordanOsr meant is boiled potatoes with herring on side with a little dill and onion, yummy! But shuba is of course delicious too
From what I know, it's common in Northern Europe in general and in the Baltic Sea region in particular.
Interesting, I was told to throw them back or give them to the cat when I was young, they must have gone to waste.
We eat them raw in The Netherlands! With chopped onions and slices of pickle! So good!
Well, it's sometimes explained that way, but to be precise, it's actually slightly fermented in brine. The effect is comparable to grava, only without herbs. During the herring season, which begins in June, you can find herring carts in some shopping streets and by the beach etc. When you buy herring there, it's taken from its brine and then boned and cleaned.
The true test for foreigners is where they leave a bit of the tail on, and you're supposed to eat it straight from the tail. Do try it, next time you're there during summer.
neither did i know. :D Used google translator and actually it is very common in Latvia as well. I did not know how it is in english. facepalm
http://formulaodonto.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Hering1.jpg
There is a brand in my country with that name. I always was curious to know why their symbol are two fishes hahaha
Re-recording
The voice is not quite perfect on this sentence, as of August 11th, 2017, so I've taken the liberty of re-recording it.
The stress should be as in de äter SILL, but the voice stresses the sentence as de ÄTer sill.
Please find a correct recording on http://duolingo.vydea.io/b7946e7f08e44b4094d5d2a51641fc26.mp3
In addition, please find a slower recording with a more enounced pronuncation on http://duolingo.vydea.io/42101ba394d840498b8ab4c4540533b1.mp3
For more info on re-recordings, please check the info thread: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/23723515
Thanks for listening. Ha en bra dag! :)
- 41
It sounds like the sill goes to something like 'shill', and I've noticed this with Swedish speakers too. Is there some pronunciation rule about preceding sounds causing an s to go more sh?
Whenever they're part of the same syllable, they always use the sh sound. When they're not, it largely depends on the speaker's dialect as well as the specific word.
Thanks very much for this posting (which I have only just seen). That does make things much clearer for me, devalanteriel.
Everyday is the adjectival form of the phrase, every day. Eg an everyday occurrence _ st that happens every day.
Här i Sverige de äter potatis och köttbullar med lingonsylt varje dag. Jag saknar min brasilianska köket :(
- 884
Really? Most people I know tend to cook more international food at home, like a lot of pasta dishes, pizza, thai chicken, tacos and so on. The most common restaurants seem to be pizza, Thai, Chinese, and sushi, whereas not many restaurants serve typical Swedish food.
I think it might have something to do with the word sill following right after the word äter. In a word an r followed by an s makes the shh noise. When two words come together in the same way, I think they tend to make the same sound. I could be totally wrong, but it's just something I personally have noticed!
I know I have hearing problems but does this sentence really sound like that? I've listened a dozen or more times and I cannot relate the sounds to the written words at all.
I've now uploaded two audio files, to both of which I have put links in a separate comment above. I hope these will help!
The stress is a little off, but it's not too bad in all. I'll make a slower recording for you tomorrow, if my throat allows.
And am I the only American on here who has enjoyed, surströmming? På ön Ulvon.
"I don't want any herrings, red or otherwise" - Inspector Grim, The Thin Blue Line
