- Forum >
- Topic: Swedish >
- "Ni har mycket humor!"
31 Comments
In some language learning websites, specially for very different language pairs like japanese/english, they show both a literal translation and an idiomatic translation. It would be nice if Duolingo had that.
That would be great. I know I like seeing the idiomatic translations as it helps me remember the word order better.
So in what situation would we use "ni" here instead of "du"? Are we addressing a number of people, and saying that they all have a good sense of humor?
1279
"Ni" always* means plural you. So yes.
*With the exception being when used really formally in written language, then it is used like a titel (for one or more people) and is often (if not always) capitalized. This is very rare though, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Not a native Swede but need to just add for clarity (in case folks come across this somewhere else...) that all the mods, my SFI teachers and the native Swedes I have met would say that "ni" is only ever used in the plural sense and not in the formal sense. It is a mistaken assumption amongst a small group of people (learners especially) that we can use ni in this way. Some swedes apparently even find it offensive to be addressed by the so called "formal ni". Just a heads up in case anyone gets the wrong idea from this comment.
- 1279
Yeah I'm one of those swedes who find it offensive, and I've noticed an increase in people (native swedes) using the word that way. It's mostly younger people who want to have formal swedish but since they either don't know how polite/formal swedish actually worked or want a less clunky and old-fashioned way to be polite they use 'ni'.
It's a little funny to be referred to as 'ni', but mostly annoying. My reaction is usually, to paraphrase my mum, "But I'm the only one here?".
That was the impression I had - that it is mainly misguided young people who have misunderstood (or have been misinformed about) older-fashioned Swedish and use the word "ni" mistakenly in an attempt to be polite. Again, I am only going from what I have been told by people who actually speak fluent Swedish though!!
Personally, I HATE being referred to as: a lady, ma'am (especially this one... I cannot stand to be called ma'am!), even Miss/Ms/Mrs... quite glad to find that Swedish culture seems to shun unnecessary titles (at least in my limited experience here so far!)
I like that retort btw, it seems a pretty good response! haha!
Can "you" in the English translation be plural, too? It says "you have a great sense of humor".
Yes, if you are addressing a group of people with this statement, it is almost certain that they share the same sense of humour.
In swedish humor as in something is funny spelled "humor" but humor as in mood like in a bad mood is humör
Is the pronunciation here correct? I'd rather say [hu'mor] with a stress on the second syllable, but I could be influenced by German.
Yes, it's correct. The Swedish word stresses the first syllable, so that's your inner German talking. :p
I'm not really sure what you mean - "humours" isn't an adjective in English. Could you please type an example sentence I can translate for you?
Can this mean funny as in "I am laughing at you rather than with you" as well as "you make funny jokes... haha" as it could in English? hehe
Not in the sense of laughing at somebody making a fool of themselves, for instance, if that's what you mean. :)
That is indeed what I meant! Good to know. Nice to avoid that particular ambiguity! haha
- 330
How do we know if mycket means "a great sense of" or just "much" or "many"? I wish Duolingo would have "close enough" as a correct answer!
mycket is "much" and många is "many". English can use e.g. "a lot of" for both much and many.
- 229
The english here "a great sense of humor" means that the speaker likes the jokes that the others make. I thought that the Swedish "mycket humor" meant something more like "a strong sense of humor" (as in: You can find a funny side to everything) but I was marked wrong. Could the Swedish mean both?
I wouldn't exactly agree that the English phrase only means that the speaker likes the jokes that others make. I frequently use it to mean that the person is good at making jokes themselves. The Swedish expression is used in the same way.
