37 Comments
If you went into a store and asked if they had any umbrellas for sale, would you use this sentence? In english you would use plural form instead. (några paraplyer)
Or is this sentence, used to ask if someone has an umbrella (to borrow, for example).
I would probably say "Har ni paraplyer?" (where "ni" is plural, i.e. you guys who work in this store :))
Not sure if it's accepted here or not. Of course it is right but would the meaning be slightly different?
What is the difference in meaning between 'ett paraply' and 'något paraply'
895
I think the people under MariaDeLau's comment below are right, the 'correct' English version would be an umbrella in the singular and only any umbrellas in the plural.
- 895
You mean why we can say both Har du något paraply? and Har du ett paraply?
Maybe the question ought to be about why you can't say Have you any umbrella? in English. In the plural, it works the same in English as in Swedish, you can say both Do you have umbrellas? and Do you have any umbrellas? (Har ni paraplyer? and Har ni några paraplyer?)
But is there a difference in usage between then. In English 'any' has more emphasis and feels a bit more desperate, or with lower expectation that someone does have an umbrella... Btw we do use the singular when we say 'do you have any idea...'
- 895
The singular with 'any' tends to work well with abstract things, but not so well with physical objects (but it's probably even more complicated than that). – There's a difference in meaning between the two different versions in Swedish too. Har du något paraply? is somehow more hypothetical and 'open'.
I am a bit stubborn with "any" . are " any umbrella" and "any umbrellas" both fine in English?
It is not funny, it is downright wrong. In English with ANY you can only use plurar countable nouns, so "ANY UMBRELLA" is wrong.
does "any" not also mean "a random". "You can take any umbrella you like"? Sorry for asking, my motherlanguage is german, not english... How can i say "Du kannst dir irgendeinen Regenschirm nehmen, der dir gefällt." in english?
Yes, you're correct. You can say that (: "What drink would you like?" "Any drink will do" or indeed "Could I borrow an umbrella?" "Sure, you can take any umbrella you like!" All the best and happy studies
- 751
'Any' doesn't always have to go with a plural countable noun - see other replies here, and I'll add another example: 'Is there any sugar?'
I'm confused, are you asking if they have any umbrellas or if they have an umbrella?
- 895
Har du/ni något paraply? = Do you have an umbrella?
Har du/ni några paraplyer? = Do you have any umbrellas?
Goodness, I'm so happy to see it's not only me who's getting mentally f*!£ked by this. Sadly it has to be memorised as a nuance, not as a direct translation of English, since the grammar rules don't work here.
Is this negative like 'I see that you don't have an umbrella, have you?' Or,I think, this is neuter possibility, like... yes... 'do you have any...?'
is it really pronounced this way? I think I learnt to pronounce något no:t so the g is silent...
"Nåt" is colloquial and very common. The same holds for "sånt" instead of "sådant".
