"Do you have strings?"
Translation:Har ni snören?
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1962
shouldn't most ett- words remain the same in plural form, and only take an "n" at the end when it is definitive plural? Why is it "snören" instead of "snöre" here?
It's ett-words ending in a consonant that virtually always stay the same in the plural. :)
So there is never a distinction between the definite and indefinite plural of snöre?
There is. According to my notes, this is the so-called "fourth declension" in Swedish: ett-words ending in a vowel. The indefinite plural form adds an "-n" (snören), while the definite plural form adds "-na" (snörena). They occur much less frequently in the lessons than ett-words ending in consonants (the "fifth declension"), which are unchanged in indefinite plural, but add "-en" in definite plural form. As a result, I still forget about this distinction :-)
When would this be used? Strings as a plural is uncommon unless used for instruments. Even if you wanted several pieces of string, you would still say 'do you have (any) string'
If you were talking to Pinocchio you could ask him about his strings. :-)
"Jag har inga garnbitar för att hålla mig nere, för att göra mig orolig eller få mig att rynka pannan. Jag hade bitar av garn. Men nu är jag fri. Det finns inga garnbitar på mig." (per Google Translate... )
I think it depends heavily on context. You might not ask someone randomly if they had "strings", but perhaps you are discussing a craft project which clearly calls for multiple types of string, instead of one long string to be cut into multiple pieces.
I don't understand what this sentence means. Can somebody explain the context and what kind of strings we are talking about?
I'm quite surprised too, that they're talking bout strings all the time. But maybe Duolingo want to stress that Swedish are just a mighty nation of melodic death metal and they just break their strings quite often so they ask this kind of questions instead of "have you seen my wallet/keyes/cell/glasses"?
That's a sträng, and the default is snöre, which is the "twine" sense of "string". :)
As suggested i checked all the above discussion and there is no clear explanation of why we should choose the definite form over the indefinite one. There are some useful hints, though.
Snöre ---> indefinite singular Snören--> INDEFINITE plural Snöret --> definite singular Snörena-> definite plural
As suggested below by Natalie it's like the old good "äpple". This is how it works for every -ett word ending with a vowel (exceptions apply)
So "Har ni snören?" is actually built up with the indefinite form, and this should answer your question.
what about this answer: "har du/ni några snören?", like in "Do you have any ...?"
There honestly isn't really a single good translation of that. We don't have the phrase in the same way English does. So it depends on the context, and we usually phrase it a bit more directly.
- 1169
I assume the word "snore" (but with the two dots above the o), and the english word "snare" are related etymologically?
Yes, although our word for "snare" is snara. The original PIE word is likely one meaning to twist.
Tråd was not accepted as an answer which means a string or a thread. Without a context this is a bit ambiguous.
Since it's strings, it would have to be trådar, but that should be accepted.
- 1314
So 'snöre' is twine string, and 'sträng' is a string on an instrument. What is a string in physics (string theory)?
In Dutch we have 'snoer', which usually refers to the 'string' you use to plug in your electric device. Is it the same in Swedish?
Maybe it is dumb question, but how many people in Sweden use «du» like «ni» and like «du»? And isn't it roughly if I say «du» when I talk with a stranger? (p.s. sorry for my English, I'm just from Russia)
That's actually a common myth. Some people in customer service do use ni as a formal "you", but this is rare and it's a largely incorrect usage. Swedes simply don't use titles and formal pronouns. You could even say du to the king.
(And it's not a dumb question at all!)
- 1426
I don't know if the "stringtrosor" are called strings in English. In that case: Har ni stringtrosor?