"Whose book is it?"
Translation:Vems bok är det?
18 Comments
Why is "Vems bok är den?" not correct? "Bok" takes the "en" article, right? So why "det" and not "den"?
838
det is not an article of the book here, it is just a placeholder pronoun. We often compare it to it in it is raining. Just like we say Det är min bok 'It is my book', not den, we would only use det here.
For a much longer explanation, see this post: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9708920
You only use that form if it directly affects the noun. Det är boken, not den är boken BUT Den boken är grå
Why isnt the verb in second place? Is it because of the emphasis on book? (Ie. Whose -book- is this vs whose is this book)
The "inversions" presented in the notes have been very helpful to me in understanding question structure (I take a statement and then "invert" or switch the noun and verb to transform it into a question), but I can't seem to transform this question into a statement to work backwards. Can someone help?
- 838
Actually talking about inversion may not be that helpful. The rule for main clauses is that the verb is in second place. While in most cases the subject is first, it doesn't have to be and there's no rule about it. But the rule about having the verb second is very firm.
For questions, the rule is that the verb goes before the subject (and you can only have question words etc first).
The reason this one is hard to rewrite is probably 'vems'. It's a question word, so we wouldn't use it in a statement.
With possessive pronouns, it would be like this:
Det är din bok. 'It is your book.'
Är det din bok? 'Is it your book?'
I am confused why "Do you know whose dog is it?" is translated as "Vet du vems hund det är?" and "Whose book is it?" is "Vems bok är det?". Why do det and är get switched? I keep getting the answer wrong because I don't understand the rule for the order here.
I get very confused as to when I should or shouldn't drop words like "is" and "are." In this case, why do I need är? Why not "Vems bok det?"
- 205
There is no verb in your sentence at all: "Vems bok det?" ("Whose book it?")
That’s a quite awkward Swedish sentence and doesn’t correspond to the English one as well as Vems bok är det.
