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- "Tolken talar varken svenska …
"Tolken talar varken svenska eller engelska."
Translation:The interpreter speaks neither Swedish nor English.
32 Comments
1749
"I want to apply for the Swedish-English interpreter job." "Do you speak Swedish fluently?" "Not at all, only English. But I would accept to be paid half."
- 149
So heller is used when negating only one thing at a time? For example: - Jag tycker inte om fisken. - Jag inte heller.
Eller means or.
Heller means "also" or "in addition" but is only used in combination with a negating word, such as inte/not, aldrig/never, knappast/barely...
Examples:
Tolken talar inte svenska. Han talar inte heller engelska. The interpreter doesn't speak Swedish. He also doesn't speak English.
Varken jag eller min kompis gillar fisk. Neither me nor my friend likes fish.
Jag tycker inte om fisk. Inte min kompis heller. I don't like fish. Neither does my friend.
Jag äter aldrig kött eller fisk. I never eat meat or fish.
Jag äter aldrig kött och inte fisk heller. Jag never eat meat and i also never eat fish.
You're right, but I would generally translate eller as "either" rather than "also". As you say, it's only used in the negative.
I am not a native but I heard inte jag heller sounds better, will someone please confirm this?
"Inte jag heller" is correct. "Inte heller jag" is also fine. "Jag inte heller" is wrong.
I'm native so I go more by feeling than knowing the actual rules so I'm afraid I can't explain why.
- 1176
I had this as a "write what you hear" exercise. I've never had one so long, but It felt really good to get It right!
Yes, because there's never any need for interpreters between any other two languages in Sweden.
I'm still a bit confused about how to use 'talar' versus 'pratar'. I have only heard talar used in regard to formal speeches and things when I've heard native Swedish speakers. In an everyday situation, would someone actually use talar here? Or would it be pratar?
Yup, but that's for when there is no "nor" part. Also, the neuter ingetdera is normally better since Swedish defaults to that in isolation.
- We eat neither = Vi äter ingetdera
- We eat neither a nor b = Vi äter varken a eller b
It's approaching formality, though, and you're not very likely to hear it in colloquial speech.
For "neither speaks", another verb is expected when introducing the second option. Skipping the second verb is a bit too colloquial to accept.
The answer for this one is wrong - you cannot have a double negative in English - so the answer CANNOT be "neither" and "nor". It has to either be "either" and "nor" or "neither" and "or".
- 1447
Sorry, but you're wrong – the traditionally accepted combinations are neither-nor and either-or. Today, many native speakers mix them up, but those are the two that traditional grammar recommends. It's not a double negation, because neither and nor do not negate the same thing, neither negates 'Swedish', and nor negates 'English'.
Double negatives are used all the time in English even though we're not supposed to - regardless, Arnauti's right - this is not a double negative as they do not negate the same thing.
