- Forum >
- Topic: Swedish >
- "He does not know it either."
"He does not know it either."
Translation:Det vet inte han heller.
45 Comments
1458
I explained that in my first comment on this page, the one that starts with "In this case …"
1458
Ah, sorry, I missed that. I'm too tired at the moment, shouldn't have answered in the first place. So if you put him first, in
Han vet inte det heller you get the situation where 'He does not know fact X, and he does not know det either'
and in
Han vet inte heller det, you get 'Person X does not know it, and 'he' does not know it either'
So why put han first?
The main reason to rearrange word order is usually what information structure we want. Generally, we prefer to go from what is known to what is not known, this is called the information principle. Very roughly, sentences tend to put known things in the beginning, and new things in the end.
Now, in this case, han is a pronoun, so we can assume the listener knows who 'he' is. But det is also a pronoun, and we can assume that the listener knows what 'it' refers to, too.
So I'd say Han vet inte det heller and Det vet han inte heller are very close, it's just a matter of how you want to stress or present things.
Between Det vet inte han heller and Han vet inte det heller, there is both the difference of presentation and the other difference I mentioned.
1458
In this case it depends on what inte is negating.
Det vet inte han heller = Person X does not know it, and 'he' does not know it either
Det vet han inte heller = 'He' does not know fact X, and he does not know det (the thing that the sentence refers to) either
213
In this case the stress is on the "that/it". As in "That I do not know, either." However, I agree with you that this is not obvious when all we see is the English sentence "He does not know it, either."
1458
antingen is only used in the combination antingen – eller, which means 'either – or', so it doesn't fit here.
230
If this helps anyone, I kind of look at this one as "that he does not know either" helps me remember and wrap my head round it abit. Obviously please correct me if i'm wrong. :)
1458
That's actually pretty easy – it's just that the verb has to go in second place in the sentence. So if you put det first, the verb vet goes after it, and if you put han first, the verb also goes right after that. Basically vet just stays put in second place whatever you change in the rest of the sentence.
469
So the first time I used (in the wrong order, I admit) "inte", but the suggested answer used the word "ej". The second time I used "ej" and was marked wrong for not using "Inte". Make up your mind, eh?
213
I see you're quite advanced in German. The "jag vet" vs "jag känner" scenario is exactly the same as "ich weiß" vs "ich kenne". I hope this helps.
213
I believe because "inte" modifies the verb, it has to come much closer, not at the very end.