"The grey cat has an orange fish."

Translation:Den grå kat har en orange fisk.

January 14, 2015

16 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/writingdad

Still trying to wrap my head around this, I think. Katten = the cat, but you can't say "Grå katten" for "the grey cat". It has to be split into "Den grå kat"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/tu.8zPhLD72zzoZN

Yes, someone else suggested in "Grå katten" the color would be the name of the cat as in "Gray the cat".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/writingdad

Okay. That makes sense to me and I can divide things in my head thinking of it that way. Thanks!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/wish1832

Why is it "den grå kat", rather than "de grå kat"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Xneb
Mod
  • 75

de is used for plural things, so it would be "de grå katte" (the grey cats), but "den" is used for singular common gender words like here. "det" is used for neuter gender singular words ("det grå hus" = "The grey house")


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/MarinaSo09

might be a stupid question but why is the colour 'orange' but the fruit 'appelsin'?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/RyagonIV

Because one is a colour and the other is a fruit. :)
The word orange is French, coming via the Spanish naranja from Arabian nāranǧ, which refers to the bitter orange fruit. The French referred to it as pomme d'orange, "orange apple", too, so there's the connection to the colour.
Appelsin, on the other hand, is a common name in central Europe, originated in older Dutch as appelsina. The fruit was imported from South China and the name simply means "apple from China".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/MarinaSo09

Very informative thank you : )


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Saphira00

In icelandic the fruit is appelsína and the colour is appelsínugulur ( appelsin gul)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Rhapsodyja

Sorry I am a French speaking person and I never, neither anyone I know, used "pomme orange"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/RyagonIV

Phew, this was over a year ago, but I think I got the info from this Wiktionary page about the German noun, "Orange". Nowadays no French person calls it "pomme" anymore, but in Old French that definitely seemed to be the case.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/andrey420

Why EN orangE (not orang) fisk


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Xneb
Mod
  • 75

Because the word is "orange". Adjectives ending in "-e" also tend not to take a separate neuter or plural forms:
"En orange fisk" = An orange fish
"Et orange hus" = An orange house
"Orange biler" = Orange cars
"Den orange fisk" = The orange fish


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Liubof

Should not it be Den grå katten ?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/RyagonIV

The gray the cat? :)

No, if you add an adjective, you split the article from the noun again because the adjective needs to squeeze in between the two:
kat -> katten -> den grå kat


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Liubof

Thanks. I was just trying to make analogies with norwegian where this phrase would be: Den grå katten.

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