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So what would be Swedish for "the bear sleeps still" - as in the bear sleeps motionless? Yes, a very random question indeed.
I translated it as this and it gave me correct, I was a little confused. I feel like this should be marked incorrect?
889
I think 'The bear sleeps still' is ambiguous – it can mean it sleeps motionless, but it can also be understood as 'The bear still sleeps' with a different word order. This is why it's an accepted answer.
Don't worry, he sleeps and it is no real bear. But thanks for saving me from him.
As with many things Swedish, there seems to be a Dutch equivalent to the word fortfarande, namely voortvarend. Despite being a native Dutchitron, I've rarely seen the latter so I did a little digging :)
Like its Swedish counterpart, voortvarend is a composite, consisting of: voort- [forth, forwards] and -varend [present participle of to fare; not to be understood as to sail ].
However, the similarities end there. According to Wiktionary, the present meaning of voortvarend is vigorous, strong, energetic. I'd personally add fervorous, decisive and expedient, and note that it's used predominantly in the context of a task, process, work etc.
Although the meaning is analogous, the etymology is different: an equivalent construction would give fortfahrend actually, as the common verb here is English "fare", German "fahren" , Dutch "varen".
Während means "during" and comes from "wahren" like Danish "vare" with the meaning of "to last". Thence you get the similar but unrelated fortwährend.
I'd never heard of this word before (I'm a native Dutchitron too) but it makes so much sence. Ontzettend bedankt!
So, fort is fast or rapid and farande is procedure according to google translate. Is there any logic behind this combination? I just ask because it might help me to remember.
- 1687
I am not a native speaker, so I may be wrong, but I think I can share some ideas in order to remember fortfarande.
- fort- means further, related to forth in English.
- fara is a verb in infinitive which means to go.
Therefore, we get fortfara which means to go on or to continue. Fortfarande can be present participle of fortara, i.e., fortfarande can be recognized as continuing. And the meaning continuously comes from the idea of in a manner of continuing.
Björnen sover, björnen sover i sitt lugna bo. Han är inte farlig, bara man är varlig, men man kan dock, men man kan dock honom aldrig tro.
This song is part of a well-known children's game. A group of children dance in a circle around a child pretending to be a sleeping bear. When the song is over, the bear wakes up and gives chase. The child who is caught becomes the next bear. A charming version of the song is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oehZtupL8I0. I am guessing that the singer's motions are a translation of the song into Swedish Sign Language (STS).
For Duolinguists, the neat thing here is that at this point of the tree, we can understand most of the song. Bo, which my Prisma dictionary says means den, is already familiar as the related bor = lives, the infinitive being att bo.
- 746
Is there a Swedish equivalent of the adjective 'asleep'? I wrote 'the bear is still asleep' and that was wrong, because I should have used the verb.
Impressed by how long that word is for rather little meaning, I took a glance at the dictionary entry for alternatives, and it gave me "an", "annu" and a Swedish friend of mine added "kvar". Could somebody enlighten me as for the use of those? Tack (:
I find that to mean that the bear does not stop sleeping. I would not say that's a valid translation. It would be different from the better translation: "The bear continues to sleep" which doesn't mean it always sleeps, just that it is doing so now (sleeping during time up to and including now).
You mean similar to "lingers on", "trudges on", "goes on"? Maybe, but it sounds quite unnatural to me compared to: "The bear is still sleeping".
I refer you to Wayne's World and Bill & Ted: "Party on, dudes". Yes, you are correct to use "on" as a particle to form a two-word phrasal verb. Including the myriad of alternate translations in exercises is at the discretion of the moderators, but I think they wouldn't be wrong to include this one. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_phrasal_verbs_with_particle_(on)
I thinkt there is a tiny semantical difference.
The bear is still sleeping (The bear has slept before, and is sleeping now, but i can't tell if he will sleep in the nearer future, it is possible that might wake up every moment) - The expession contains no speculation about the future. The informaion in the sentence is related to time frame past -> present and stops "now".
The bear is sleeping on (The bear has slept before, is sleeping now and will probably be sleeping in the nearer future). The expression can contain a slight speculation about the future. You can use the sentence in different ways. The information in the sentence (as is) can relate to different time frames (past->present or present->future, or even past->present->future)
English is complicated ;).
Yet another variation would be
The bear goes on sleeping.
- 889
Make it easier on us and choose closer translations: let is sleeping on be 'sover vidare' and goes on sleeping be 'fortsätter sova'.
I must ask, should this entry be added?:
Väcka inte den björn som sover.
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=let_sleeping_dogs_lie#Translations
Yes, here it's OK to place that adverb before the to be verb in English.
It's an exception though, as you will be directed to do the opposite:.
http://staff.washington.edu/marynell/grammar/AdverbPl.html
