"He loses his keys."

Translation: Han tappar nycklarna.

[Reid_FL]

Wouldn't this translate to "He loses the keys?"

[Zmrzlina]

Very literally, yes. But Swedish will occasionally use a definite noun rather than an possessive pronoun + indefinite noun.

[Reid_FL]

Thanks a lot! That clears up a lot

[person222222]

What exactly does "tappar" mean? "lose" and "drop" mean two different things to me, so I'm not sure exactly what this word means if it can mean both of those things

[lostdrewid]

I checked wiktionary and it lists both "to lose" and "to drop (something by mistake)" [as well as to tap, like a keg, but I'm pretty sure that's unrelated ^_^].

Best guess is that the drop side of tappa's meaning is that you don't notice you've dropped it, therefore it's something you lose. The picture in my head for this sentence is a guy grabbing something out of his pocket and knocking his keys out without noticing.

What I don't know is, can tappar be a kind of general lost sort of verb for all things you misplace, or is it just for things you lose by way of dropping? I poked about on google translate and there are a lot of words for losing things in Swedish, so it might be more specific :|

[AHS-9]

Would "Han tappar sina nycklar" be an equal alternative?

[Zmrzlina]

Yes.

[HelenCarlsson]

It has been discussed here as well. I actually I agree with you, but since I seem to be the only one I will try to stay away this time :).

[kinj1973]

I thought 'tappar' means 'to drop'.......

[margareta431214]

also: han blir av med nycklarna

This suggests that it happens more than once

[anoro]

varför inte "förlorar" för "loses"

[Christina_Hamsun]

men "förlorar hans nycklar" måste vara också möjligt..