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- "Jag lägger täcket på sängen."
36 Comments
Not sure if I'm getting this right: Both "ställer" and "lägger" seem to be translated as "put". The difference seems to be that you use "ställer" when the said object is rather in an upstanding position while "lägger" is for a lying position. Is this correct?
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can "lägger" also be applied for people, lets say you're putting a sleeping child to lay on the bed, can you say "jag lägger barnet"?
If, for example, you were setting down a perfectly cuboid object, would you use ställer or lägger? Since the object is perfectly cuboid and has identical dimensions both horizontally and vertically it could be either standing or laying. And yes this is a very mildly passive aggressive attempt at catching out native speakers using mathematics.
- 1488
I forgot, you could also say Jag sätter på mig skorna, that might feel more intuitive, given that sätta is one of the three sätta, ställa, lägga verbs that usually replace 'put'.
So what would be the difference between those three words? We've determined that "ställa" is when you put something down and it's upright, while "lägga" is putting something down and it's lying down. Where does "sätta" come into this?
Actually, plenty of people still use fancy French terms for various items in furniture, décor, fashion, and culinary arts, etc. ;) If you go to Ikea in the U.S., for example, you will see some items labeled as "duvet"; they are feather down-filled blankets or "bedspreads". You would call it a "comforter" at Walmart; that's probably the term you seek. "Quilt" is accepted in the exercise, but technically that form of bedcover might not be the same as duvet; down is the key ingredient.
This one always gets me too! We call them a doona in English in Australia. I never know how to refer to it in English to Swedish people, I am happy I know the Swedish word now!
- 1360
Here in the UK, 'duvet' and 'quilt' are used interchangeably, although 'quilt' can also - and often does - refer to what Americans call a 'quilt' (thinner, often patchwork). I think it's generational - my mum uses 'duvet' semi-reluctantly, and in turn her mum would be happy to say 'continental quilt' (having grown up with sheets and blankets, and duvets having arrived as a new-fangled object from continental Europe in the 1960s).
When I saw this one, I remembered the problems I once had in Ireland to get one of these things in a hotel. So, I did some research.
In northern Germany where I grew up (as well as in Scandinavia) it is usual not to cover yourself with sheets and blankets at night but with those feather down-filled things. It has been so for hundreds of years. A sister-in-law of one of my grandfathers once even told me that “of course we eat roast goose for Christmas because we have to slaughter one and pluck it to refill our ...”—um, well—“ ... blankets for the cold winter.” So, when I learned at school that a German “Decke” is a “blanket” I had always thought of it as a comforter, not as a wollen blanket, because in German you have to specify that you mean that and not just any kind of cloth—filled or otherwise—to cover yourself in bed with. That’s why I kept getting woollen blankets in this hotel when all I wanted was one bloody duvet ...
The word “duvet” is derived from the French word for down feathers and the Swedish word for it is dyna (?) which through Ikea gave rise to the Australian “doona”. (By the way, the German word is “Daune”.)
So, if there are any German learners here, if you just say “Decke” in German, most people will think of a “duvet”, a blanket would translate to “Wolldecke”. And now follow my questions for the native Swedish speakers: Is it the same in Swedish as in German? What would a woollen blanket be called in Sweden and what would I get when I asked for “ett täcke” in a Swedish hotel?
A German Wolldecke is a filt in Swedish. If you ask for a täcke, you get a Bettdecke.
Now I know how to ask for a duvet in Swedish hotels and a blanket on top of it. I’ll never be cold again. Warm thanks! Have a lingo for the quick reply.
Report it next time - it's clearly correct. It's not a well-known term outside Australia, so there may well be further sentences with täcke where it's not accepted.
Motion vs location.
If you lägger something, it means you're putting it in a lying-down position.
If something ligger, it means it is in a lying-down position.
- 243
Isn't it also a question of transitive vs intransitive?
ställer - står is like stellen - stehen and lägger - ligger like legen - liegen in German.
Does Swedish have an equivalent to setzen - sitzen?
Hmm, on the phrase "Han lägger duken på bordet" - I answered "He put the the tablecloth on the table" but that was was marked wrong. But the suggested answer here is "I put the quilt on the bed"? Is there a reason "put" is an acceptable answer on this phrase but not the other?
- 1488
He puts the tablecloth on the table. is the suggested translation for 'Han lägger duken på bordet'. You can't say he put because that is past tense and han lägger is the present tense; also you have two 'the' in the sentence. Maybe one or both of those are just typos, but put(s) is the best translation of lägger in these sentences.
- 456
Does it make a difference if you put the blanket on the bed like in a heap/ neatly folded or if you spread it? I mean do you use different verbs in swedish?
I might specify ... i en hög for the pile meaning, but the verb is the same.
