"Tror du på ödet?"

Translation: Do you believe in destiny?

[Sjodni]

Why is it "ödet" and not öd?

[Lundgren8]

It’s actually öde in the indefinite, and the reason is simply one of those cases where Swedish prefers the definite form whereas English doesn’t.

[Sjodni]

Okay, thank you! Do you know of an example where it is the other way around, where English uses it and not swedish?

[Lundgren8]

I can only think of in certain constructions that are created with the definite article in English, but not in Swedish like: ’He is the father of two children’ which in Swedish would be han är far till två barn and also in infinitive constructions like ’you don’t have the guts to do it’ (du har inte mod till att göra det).

Also certain words like nästa and fel are followed by the indefinite in Swedish but often not in English: the wrong way (fel väg), the next day (nästa dag).

[Sjodni]

thank you so much!

[Zmrzlina]

Out of the blue, I can think of listen to the radio where Swedish prefers lyssna på radio. (If you used definite radion, it would refer to a specific radio.)

[Arnauti]

And boats: The Titanic is just called Titanic in Swedish!

[Lundgren8]

Oh yeah, also like instruments: ’play the piano’ (spela piano).

[Jonathan606349]

Gå på bio/på teater.

[Sjodni]

Thanks!

[diskmaskinen]

Close your eyes and leave the rest to me...

[BalvinderC1]

Could this not also be translated as 'Do you believe in your destiny?', though this wasn't acceptwd on 22nd Aug '19.

[InvertedGo]

I'm assuming you can also translate it to Do you believe in fate?

[devalanteriel]

Yep, that's also perfectly fine.