23 Comments
It still confuses me when to use "det" or "den" tho. I feel like I didn't pay attention to some lesson.
889
At a start of sentences like this, when you're not saying that 'exhibit A is an X', but rather that 'the thing I'm talking about is X', it's always det. Maybe the easiest way to feel it is that you could replace it by this or that in English with more or less the same meaning.
Compare:
Jag har en cykel. Den är fin – 'I have a bike. It is nice' – den refers to the bike
Jag har en cykel. Det är fint – 'I have a bike. That is nice' – det does not refer to the bike, but to the whole situation of my having a bike.
Its like when in english you use "that" for everything. You have to use it the same way. Ex. That's an open question vs Its an open question. In swedish its always det (it) unless its something specific like den svart hunden.
Replying to this so I can find it again later. This clears up so much for me, and I've been studying Swedish off and on for a couple years now!
öppna is the "absolute singular definite and plural form of öppen". den öppna frågan. den öppna dörren. öppna dörrar. dörrarna är öppna. Also a verb meaning "to open". Jag ska öppna dörren. On the contrary, en öppen dörr, en öppen fråga. dörren är öppen.
I think it means that it's not a yes/no question (at least it's the meaning for the german phrase)
In education we would call it an open-ended question, meaning there is more than one possible correct answer.
Can't you say just query instead of question? Why is 'It is an open query' not right?
- 889
A better translation of query is förfrågan. It could work in some cases but I don't think an open query means the same as an open question. For me, 'an open query' is very tied to databases and programming.
This is definitely incorrect. A query is a question. This word existed before databases/programming. Fråga is the correct translation in this context. Förfrågan is a better translation for inquiry.
- 889
No, a rhetorical question is en retorisk fråga. That is a question that does not want an answer. An open question is a question that could have any answer.
- this = den/det/de här or denna/detta/dessa
- that = den/det/de or den/det/de här
