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- "Hon arbetar på en fabrik."
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Still getting my head around Swedish prepositions. What is the difference between "på" and "i" in this case? Also, would "She works at a factory" be acceptable here?
Getting the impression the distinction is very similar to "na" vs "v" in Russian. With "na" you tend to think more of a surface rather than an enclosed space.
1527
Not in case of something like "по пятницам" or "по утрам". This is when I feel very surprised by the similarity between the two languages.
So, it is "i hamnen" but "på en fabrik." What exactly is the difference? Both translations from Duolingo say "in the port" or "in a factory." Why is one of these locations "i" and the other of these locations "på," when as far as I can tell you are communicating the exact same information, just changing the location of the job. (For the record, the other sentence I refer to is "Min bror arbetar i hamnen.")
Is it the building vs. the outdoor locale? Or are i/på interchangeable in these situations? (Kind of like in English, you could also say "at the port" or "at a factory"?)
- 1453
Some nouns take i, others take på for location. The underlying idea is, much like in English, that i/'in' stands for being 'inside' something whereas på/'on' stands for being 'on top of something'. If we take very clear examples, such as på golvet 'on the floor' and i en låda 'in a box', they're usually the same in both languages. But when it comes to more abstract things where it isn't that obvious, it's just down to what's been codified in language. For instance, both in English and in Swedish we say på tåget 'on the train', although you could argue you're more like inside the train than literally on it.
I find it really interesting how learning another language makes me notice just how much of my own is potentially arbirtary. I just have to find similarities to hang things on. With this one I think I'll remember it as "on the factory floor" - Let's see how well it sticks :) Tack, Arnauti.
It's really contextual. In this case it means "at" or "in" but there are many other applications and you have to memorize each one. There aren't really any foolproof tricks for learning prepositions as they're unpredictable.
In my head, I associate it with a fabrication plant or a "fab" and that helps.
According to Wiktionary, both come from the latin "fabrica" which is like a workshop(?)
You can't really work for a factory. You'd work in a factory for a manufacturing company.
Well, "fabrik" is like a building to me, so I don't think I would ever use that expression. It's different when it comes to a company though and then you can say "hon arbetar för ett företag".
- 1453
People will understand what you mean, but it's wrong for what this sentence probably wants to say in English. If you do want to say that she's working inside a factory but not employed by the factory, you can say i en fabrik. For instance if she's a graffiti artist making murals on the walls in a factory.
- 1453
We use på for that, too. Hon arbetar på sin uppsats 'She's working on her paper'.
Or you can say med but that's more like saying 'with' in English.
