"He does not know it either."
Translation:Det vet inte han heller.
24 Comments
Is "det vet han inte heller" really a faulty sentence or does it have a different meaning?
What's the difference between 'det vet inte han hellerä and 'han vet inte det heller'?
887
I explained that in my first comment on this page, the one that starts with "In this case …"
In both those sentences han is in the middle. Does it make any difference if it's at the start?
- 887
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.
- 460
I should follow my own advice and read all comments before writing anything. :-/
Why does 'inte' come before 'han'? Could anyone explain the rule please? I thought it would be just 'Det vet han into heller.' Thanks.
- 887
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
- 887
antingen is only used in the combination antingen – eller, which means 'either – or', so it doesn't fit here.
What determines when you use 'vet' as opposed to 'känner'?
vet is to know a fact, känner is to know, be aquainted with a person
Whenever you like, same with icke but icke is old-fashioned and ej is mostly used in formal situations or for announcements and on signs and such.
Ej is however seemingly preferred in certain expressions, such as "tro det eller ej".
I am really confused about the grammar for 'vet' in relation to 'det'. Can anyone explain this? I find it difficult to learn how to structure these sentences :'(
- 887
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.
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?
