"Han har till uppgift att ta hand om sjuka barn."
Translation:It is his task to take care of sick children.
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What about: He has a task to take care of sick children. Anything wrong with this?
That would have been en uppgift.
(I know my reply is extremely late, but I'm trying to cover unanswered top-level comments for the benefit of future learners.)
Added that. It's not exactly the most idiomatic translation, but it's certainly not wrong.
That's perfectly fine, though I tried it too and it's not accepted. Do report it next time. :)
I keep getting "It is his assignment to take care of sick children" marked wrong, because the program thinks that "assignment" should be spelled "assigment".
Thank you. I have fixed that now, though please note that there appears to be a delay of up to a few days for some corrected answers to become accepted throughout.
So....what is the TILL doing here? Is this part of a set phrase? Also, is TA HAND OM part of a set phrase? If so, a dictionary hint might be helpful.
I'm to tired to think of a good explanation for your first question. However, I can tell you that "att ta hand om" is the same as "to take care of".
Is this "He's the task of taking care of sick children." good English? I sounds wrong to me, but I'm not a native speaker.
That wasn't what the English translation said. It said "It is HIS task to...." which I can't really imagine saying, but it's not incorrect.
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No: you can't contract the possession verb "has" into "'s".
thanks Arnauti
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You can contract has when it's an auxiliary, like in He's got the task to…, but not when it's a real verb, like in He has the task. Unfortunately the Duo machinery doesn't really grok the rules for this, so it sometimes generates contractions where it shouldn't (and in other cases, doesn't allow them where it ought to).
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till sometimes has this meaning of as or in the function of. So literally it's 'He has as a task to …'
It's similar to when we say äta något till middag = 'eat something for dinner' – the thing sort of fulfills a role, if you understand what I mean.
It might not be my first choice of translation, but it's certainly not wrong. Please report it if you come across it again. :)
They can be at times, but not per definition. You may still be responsible for a task you don't actually do yourself, for instance.
That's also accepted. They mean the same thing, but det är hans uppgift may be used to emphasise that it's HIS task and nobody else's.
