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- "It is not either-or, it is b…
"It is not either-or, it is both-and."
Translation:Det är inte antingen eller, det är både och.
45 Comments
I don't really understand this sentence. It is maybe because my native language is not English (it is French). Can anyone explain it to me please? I've only found religous related website, that's not really helping me actually. Thank you.
1449
It means you do not have to choose between two things, you can have both.
When people speak about choosing between two things, they often use the expression antingen eller in Swedish, or either or in English. If you want to say that one must choose either one thing or another, you can say Det är antingen eller, in English 'It is either or'. This is sort of a compressed way of saying that this is a situation where this expression applies. And både och is the opposite of that, often said as just both in English.
There is also a discussion in the reverse sentence forum here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5568457 that might be helpful.
PS I hope this helps, if not, ask again!
I know you've had a reply but I just wanted to add my two cents! As a native English speaker, I think a good way to remember the difference between the phrases is that if you can only have either of two things, then you have the choice of this OR that. So "what can I have?" "Either-or". If you can have both of two things, you can choose this AND that. That makes "both-and" :-)
- 386
I'd also say either-or means two things are so similar that your choice doesn't matter - "Do you want coke or pepsi?" "Either or"
Don't worry! As a native English speaker I don't understand this sentence either! I mean, I get what it's trying to say, but it's not correct English
- 435
we're learning Swedish hear and not English. no harm. often there is no good 1:1 tranlation for such an idiomatic expression. A related short story: I once had a algebra teacher from Bulgaria who stated that 'antingen eller' in Swedish equals the 'exclusiv or'. To get the real English 'or' which actually means((not only) acc to him), this, that and both, you had to say 'antingen eller, eller (både och)' in Swedish. Back then I did not understand him...;-)
Ergo: should I report this and suggest : 'exclusive or, or both' ?
- 250
no native speaker will say it that way. it's just poor attempt to literally translate Swedish to English.
When you don't have to choose between two boyfriends, you all three will have poliamoria relations.
Doesn't "Heller" also mean "Either"? Could someone explain when Heller is used and when Antingen is used, thanks
- 1449
They're always used in combinations:
antingen – eller = 'either – or'
varken – heller = 'neither – nor'
inte … heller = 'not … either'
inte ens = 'not even'
inte … utan = 'not … but'
(threw in a few more as a bonus since you've waited 6 months for an answer to this) :D
Of course I was hoping "heller- eller" would be "either- or" because it flows so well...
- 148
'Jag är inte en varg utan en man'? Is that correct?
Also, how does the pair 'not...either' work? I'm not a native English speaker so I can't really think of a natural sounding sentence for that pair in English (I'm not even sure if that pairing is grammatical).
- 1449
Yes, that's correct.
'not … either' is used when you want to say something is not X, but it also isn't Y.
Han är inte gammal, men han är inte ung heller 'He isn't old, but he isn't young either'.
Examples from this course:
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/8422524
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5560524
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5993371
Thank You for making this clear and giving feedback... These expressions are extremely usefull! I just kept wondering, in your examples..., the hyphens or dashes you use here mean those words usually go together in swedish, as in the expression 'not even' inte ens in english, as far as I know... and unlike the words separated by dots... This topic has been pretty challenging to me! Thank you Again!
For people who are learning English... "either or" is a normal English phrase, but "both and" isn't. So at least where I live (midwest United States), you would say "It is not either or, it is both." However, I like this translation into English because it helps me remember the Swedish, since it's a word-for-word translation.
Also, I wonder if my picky English teacher from 8th grade would say that the English sentence is a run-on sentence. I think she would make it: "It is not either-or; it is both."
- 474
What is wrong with my Swedish translation: "Det är inte antingen-eller, det är båda-och"? (copy and paste, reported)
I've actually removed the sentence now because it's both bad and buggy, but you want både och, not båda och, and there should be no hyphens in the Swedish sentence.
Shouldn't it also be correct to type Det är inte antingen eller, utan både och ??
utan would be a translation of "but" here, but there's no "but" in the English sentence.
That's actually accepted. It looks like you left an error report, though, for "det ar inte antingen-eller, det ar bade-och". This should have let you through with a typo warning (for the missing å and ä), so I don't know why it didn't.
So practically this is "It is not a matter of choice; it is both", isn't it?
My point is that the English translation here sounds like a terrible way of putting it... :)
Oh yes, I've noted elsewhere how bad this sentence is. I had it marked for removal from future trees when I was a contributor.
This is really on of those sentences you just have to memorise, even if you don't really so how this gramatically stacks up. Thanks for all the comments up here.
Considered wrong because of the dash between antingen and eller and between bade and och as in the English phrase or because of the typo error bada instead of bade. I think the correction should explain..
Unfortunately, that is a shortcoming of Duolingo's system rather than of the course. I do agree that it's very annoying.
I put in the hyphens, so I was marked as incorrect. I find the setup of this question to be very confusing!!!!!
The english meaning is that the two things are not mutually for example. For example, if I said to someone who was crying, "Are you happy or sad?", they could say "it's not either or, it's both-and." I've heard it used mainly in psychology and self-help.
