"There was a doctor on the boat."
Translation:Det fanns en läkare på båten.
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I hope someone answers this. I thought that "det finns" was only used when something is there permanently. Does the doctor never leave the boat?
Still no explanation why "det var..." is not correct. Somebody help, please.
It should not be necessary since occupations do not take article. Hope I'm right
If "det fanns" indicates a permanent location and "var" something more movable and temporary, how does this work for a person on a boat? As a passenger: permanent (at least until the trip is over) or temporary (from the point of the boat and the crew). Or perhaps a cruise line with en läkare on staff as a permanent position?
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Why fanns? I thought that denoted a more permanent fixture or state, rather than something temporary like a person being on a boat?
My general rule thatvhas worked in every case so far, is that if you can substitute "is/was" for "exists/existed" then use "finns/fanns" instead of "är/var"
Why "Det var" is not accepted? I thought that "finns" is only used for things that exist in general.
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I thought professions did not need to be preceded by en/ett, e.g. jag är läkare, but omitting it here was marked incorrect, why so?
I think the difference is that in Swedish, when you're talking about a person and want to describe their profession (in sentences of the form like "I am a doctor" or "he wants to be a teacher"), that profession-word actually works like an adjective. Just like you could say "He is tall" or "he is kind", you say "he is doctor."
In sentences like "is there a doctor on board?" or "I met this really nice, tall doctor," you aren't describing someone's profession, you're referring to the person by the name of their profession, so in those cases you can treat it just like any other noun.
That's my understanding of it, I hope it helps.
"Det finns" is present tense (There is). "Det fanns" is past tense (There was).
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Why is "Där fanns..." Incorrect. This is one of my persistent weaknesses. Thank you in advance.
"där" mean "there", as in location, not "there" as in "there is". "Det" is an impersonal pronoun, equivalent to "it", in other words, a subject pronoun. For this reason, we need "det" before "fanns". In Swedish, a verb requires a subject in a sentence, and "det" is the subject in this sentence. I hope this helps.
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Läkare refers specifically to a physician; doktor would be used for an academic.
Got it, but the english 'basic' sentence says "doctor". I recognize the difference in Swedish, but I think the english sentence is not clear.
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Whilst the English sentence is certainly technically ambiguous, when using the word doctor in everyday English (British English at least, I can't speak for US English) without qualification, it will almost always be referring to a medical doctor as opposed to an academic one; if you work on that assumption you will be correct much more often than not. For example, it did not cross my mind that one would be referring to an academic doctor with this sentence until I read the comments, such is the commonality of its use to refer to a physician.
That said, I don't work in academia, so maybe it is different there, though I suspect not!