"We go to a restaurant."
Translation:Vi går på restaurang.
61 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
674
I thought på restaurang implied to the restaurant, and en would be needed for a restaurant. Help
In some cases, Swedish doesn't need an article with nouns when you want them in English. These are actions that are kind of seen as a unit – it's almost like gå på restaurang is a verb in itself. There's some more about this type of construction here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5824774
1198
There's a similar example involving British versus American English. Here in the U.S. we typically say were are in "the" hospital, whereas my British friends tend to leave out the "the." I'm guessing Swedish prefers the British approach when speaking of restaurants. (?)
Fixed phrase. "Gå på place". Can't explain really when you used it, but here are some examples:
Gå på restaurang (duh)
gå på bio (go to the cinema, go to the movies)
gå på teater (go to the theater)
gå på konsert (go to a concert)
If you say "Vi åker till en restaurang", then you're saying that you're leaving now specifically by means of a vehicle. Far more specific than what English "We are going to a restaurant" communicates.
683
We are given the English first. However, no context is given. Consider these two different scenarios:
1."Since your kitchen was destroyed in a fire, what do you do for food?" "We go to a restaurant".
2. "Every year on our anniversary we go to a restaurant that we discovered when we were courting".
In 1, "we go to a restaurant" is a general statement that means the same as "we go out to eat". Here Swedish would say "Vi går på restaurant".
In 2, we are talking about going to a specific place. Swedish would use "Vi går/aker på een restaurant". Swedish would use "går"if we walk and "aker" if we drive.
Corrections welcome!
You can't use gå because that would be the infinitive, rather than the present tense. It sounds like you thought går was only present continuous, but in Swedish the present form and the present continuous forms are the same word. They don't usually make that distinction (Although, you learn how to in another lesson).
Or maybe you are confused by thinking that the English sentence is in the infinitive. It's not. Like "See Spot go.", it is present tense. Infinitive would be something like "We have to go to a restaurant" rather than "We go" which is nearly the same as "We are going".
Fixed phrase. "Gå på place". Can't explain really when you use it, but here are some examples:
Gå på restaurang (duh)
gå på bio (go to the cinema, go to the movies)
gå på teater (go to the theater)
gå på konsert (go to a concert)
If you say "Vi åker till en restaurang", then you're saying that you're leaving now specifically by means of a vehicle. Far more specific than what English "We are going to a restaurant" communicates.