"It is hardly a spider!"
Translation:Det är knappast en spindel!
9 Comments
What is the meaning of this? Is it as if to say, that spider is so small or so unspiderlike it's barely a spider? As if you made a cake and it turned out poorly, someone might say "that is hardly a cake!"
841
I take it to mean 'I think it's really unlikely that that thing is a spider'.
- 841
We always use det when we start talking about some new subject that wasn't mentioned before.
Much longer post about this here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9708920
I tried "Det är knappt en spindel" but it was rejected. Of these two terms (knappast knappt), can only knappast be used to indicate probability?
- 841
Yes. knappt is used to mean 'slightly less than' or 'barely', 'not quite', 'just under', 'not more than'.
Both work in a sentence like Det tror jag knappast/knappt 'I hardly believe it' though. (much like you can say I can hardly/barely believe it in English)
