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- Topic: Swedish >
- "A dog"
"A dog"
Translation:En hund
12 Comments
Hard to know if it should be "en" or "ett" when you talk about an animal? As far as I know (born in Sweden) There are only two animals we say "ett" about: Ett bi = one bee (Biet = the bee) Ett lejon= one lion (Lejonet = the lion)
Näbbdjur (and any other -djur animals), vårtsvin... I'm sure there are at least a few dozen, but I'll admit they're very hard to come up with on the spot. :)
Thanks for your comment on my post. Appreciate it and you are absolutely right, I have come to think of another one: "ett lam"= a lamb ( lammet = the lamb). If you start counting all the animals that end with "-djur","- lejon" or "-svin", for that matter, one can get together a lot. On the other hand, if one knows that "-djur","- lejon" and "-svin" are "ett-words " (neutrum) you have a good start.
Other Words that mostly have "en" are people. A man= "en man" a woman = "en kvinna" a mother= " "en mamma", " en mor" a father= "en pappa", "en far" a brother= "en bror" a sister=" en syster" a.s.o. Exception : a child (ett barn)
Yup, quite true. In both cases it's because neuter was historically used for non-living entities. Although, as you've listed, there are some exceptions.
Guys, I need your help! The voice (the narrator) is like google talk or something like that, and what i mean is: her pronounce is very difficult and bot understandable. And for some reason i never got the microphone task (read the sentence) at the app! Any ideas?!
Check the settings. Sometimes my listening and speaking setting turn off. I snooze them on my bus ride sometimes and they do not come back
I know it is difficult for non-native speakers to pronounce the Swedish "U-sound". But in this case, try to use the English sound in the word "an" (an apple). It's not exactly that sound but pretty close to it.
I must have missed the rule and I don't understand why "En" before the noun is "a" and after is "the"=Eh hund-hunden.
