"Which floor is it?"

Translation: Vilken våning är det?

[Mak0rz]

Just for clarification on the two words for "floor": "golvet" refers to the structure (as in, "the apple fell to the floor"), whereas "våning" refers to a level of a building (as in "I'm going to the sixth floor").

Did I understand that correctly?

[Zmrzlina]

You did. Have a lingot!

[Carnaedy]

At the university I was working in the floors were labeled "plan X". Which is more common?

[Arnauti]

Normally våning. On its own, plan could mean so many things it's an impractical word. And if you say våningsplan, it's unambiguous, but it gets too long. But plan can be practical on maps etc because it's shorter, so it might be printed more often than it's said.

[Mak0rz]

Tack så mycket!

[IanCaliban]

Since våning is a noun of common gender, don't we need to say Vilken våning är DEN?

[JonEnMiljon]

The 'det' in this sentence is a so called "impersonal subject" (Sw: "formellt subjekt") and in Swedish this is always 'det'. In English either 'it' or 'there' are used as impersonal subjects (There is... / It is...).

[MikyNik1856]

Same problem here, any other insights?

[Will709432]

Couldn't you say Vilket golv är det? Since we don't know if this is about floors or floors as in levels

[devalanteriel]

Sure - it might not be the most common question, but it's certainly not wrong. :)

[StephenWat314748]

I just gave this response but it was marked as incorrect :(

[devalanteriel]

Thanks, fixed. :)

[MarkNaylor4]

Could we add "Vad är det för väning?" as an answer?

[devalanteriel]

No, that's usually more like "what kind of floor is that?" rather than "which specific floor is it?" While you can use it in both senses, I don't think it's idiomatic enough (nor prevalent) to accept both.

[MarkNaylor4]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Anton708429]

Do Swedes count their floors from 1 or from 0? I know, in France they would usually call 1st floor what we would call 2nd in Canada or in Russia

[devalanteriel]

Both systems are in use. I've written about it a bit more here: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/8382207/Det-ligger-ett-gym-p%C3%A5-f%C3%B6rsta-v%C3%A5ningen

[dave-mc]

Would it be ok (idiomatic) to ask "Vad ar det vaning?" (what is the floor?) -- not as a direct translation of this sentence, but in general?

[JonEnMiljon]

Yes, but you must add a för in that case: "Vad är det för våning?"

[Diana_SE]

Vilken våning ligger det på- can't you say that, too?

[Arnauti]

That would mean 'On what floor is it' – close but not exactly the same.

[Britta555933]

Why does it have to be "det"? I said "vilken våning är den" and it wasn't accepted.