"Gav du henne en rakhyvel?"

Translation: Did you give her a razor?

[Archybalds]

A typical swedish question

[IrrationalNumber]

I do not understand the reference, there is also another sentence with "gav du verkligen henne en rakhyvel?"

[Arnauti]

There's no special reference as far as I know, maybe only that a razor would probably be an unexpected/rude gift, so you might want to ask again if they really gave her that.

[Matt92HUN]

Vinter veri kold and dark, onli one way to end struggle.
Though I guess that would be more Finnish.

[Arnauti]

en rakhyvel is a safety razor, en hyvel is 'a plane' (as in the one a carpenter uses). A 'straight razor' is en rakkniv. So I don't think en rakhyvel is an easy way out of one's misery.

[jbeest]

So this is not a question out of a courtroom, after all !

[Buzdawg]

It's late at night and I'm having a hard time thinking - is this the right sentence structure? I initially thought that the correct word order would be "gav du henne verkligen en rakhyvel?". Which one is right? (Although I imagine both are, with different stresses on different parts of the sentence).

[Salkan27]

There is a problem with the TTS when pronounced at the normal speed, right? Or is it my ears?

[HelenCarlsson]

Actually, it sounds more like "Gav du henne en rak hyvel?" :). (Did you give her a straight plane?)

[Salkan27]

I kind of hear the 'h' of henne with a weird echo, but maybe it is just me. Funny thing about what it sounds more like, though! :D

[HelenCarlsson]

Now when you say it, I can hear that too.

[Salkan27]

Glad to hear that I am not alone! :P

[AxonnEchysttas]

You definitely are not alone

[tlhup]

It's there, for sure. Just started in the past couple lessons for me

[gibbano]

And osthyvel is the famous Swedish cheese slicer

[hornedhorse9]

Cheese slicers are norwegian; )

[jwbards]

What's wrong (if anything) with "You gave her a razor?" Thanks.

[tredjedotter]

Yes. isnät you gave her a razor, essentially the same?

[Arnauti]

Both in English and in Swedish, it is possible to create questions in two ways – by changing the sentence construction, or just by changing intonation. Questions created by changing intonation are slightly more common in English than in Swedish, but the difference is not that big. Therefore we ask you to only use that construction if the Swedish sentence is already written that way.

[IzaakFairc]

In English we generally only use a change of intonation on its own if trying to emphasise confusion, shock or surprise. For example, "You gave her a razor(!)?" Sounds like the speaker thought it was a bad idea, or they are expressing anger because of it. "Did you give her a razor?" Sounds more like a genuine question because of interest.

[eekboom]

I used to have problems remembering the spelling of rakhyvel ... until I encountered osthyvel and then looked up "rak" in swedish wiktionary.

So basically it means "glatt hobel" (German) or "smooth plane" (english, like a carpenter's plane).
Fantastic!

[Arnauti]

Sorry to spoil it for you but it's rak as in raka which means shave. Possibly there's a connection further back in history somewhere.

[omalila]

Am a the only one who associates worries about possible self harm and suicide attempts with this sentence? Maybe I know too many people working with troubled teens...

[devalanteriel]

It's a legitimate concern, but I honestly think that's a bit of a stretch.

[GlennaJo]

I typed "You gave her a razor?" which was rejected even though it means the same thing or prehaps with a bit more of a shocked tone (I was tempted to add an exclamation point along with the question mark.) The "invisible did" strikes again. :-(

[emanmanman]

The normal speed text to speech is distorted and difficult to hear. The slowed down voice was fine though.