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- "Varför går du dit?"
36 Comments
1454
No, we're not using it like that – at least yet, English expressions do have a way of seeping into the language sooner or later.
While that lingo hasn't been used for centuries, that's definitely how I remember här/hit and där/dit—the difference between here (locational) and hither (directional), and between there (locational) and thither (directional).
(The parallel breaks down a bit with var/vart, though, but at least it keeps that ending -t to indicate whither...)
1454
Hope this won't confuse you, but we also have the words hitåt and ditåt which are even closer to 'hither' and 'thither' in meaning.
Is this what you would ask someone in Swedish for the specific, present purpose of going in a certain direction? In English - and I don't know the correct grammatical terms - it suggests the person the question is directed at has a history of going in this direction, and we are asking them why they choose to go that way in general, inferring it's a repeated action. I think it is there in this way to show how it appears and is maybe a bit more versatile in Swedish? But just wanted to make sure. Thanks.
1454
I'd just translate Why is that? to Varför det?, or maybe Hur kommer det sig? (which is closer to 'How come?') I'd translate Varför är det där? just like you said, into Why is it/that there?