"Jag läser tidningen på mobilen."
Translation:I am reading the newspaper on my cellphone.
18 Comments
Swedish often uses a definite article where English would use the possessive. Just one of those quirks in different languages
I really hesitated because it seemed like a likely case of Swedish omitting the "self-evident" possessive -- yet the course very often penalizes not translating literally (e.g. definite article or plural/singular would make more proper English) ...
78
Funny how language drifts... Reading a "paper" on a phone, drinking from a plastic "glass", blowing on a copper "horn", etc.
I came to the comments to ask this exact question! We have been taught so far that tidning translates to "newspaper" but after this question I wonder if it is less literal than that. As a native english speaker I would not tend to call online news (even an online version of a printed newspaper) a "newspaper" but rather just "the news". Would a native speaker be able to clarify the definition of "tidning" for me please?
I would like an explanation for this also, i was of the understanding you would use "nyheter"
- 886
I'd take it someone who said this Swedish sentence had read e.g. Svenska dagbladet or Dagens nyheter online. If they'd just read the news, I'd have said nyheterna instead.
Jag läser tidningen på toaletten.
The tip for "mobilen" has "cell phone" as two words. I answered using the same, which was accepted, but says it's a typo for "cellphone". At least it counted, I guess, but I worry it might cause problems? I don't really know how the scoring works.
- 886
Usually both ways are accepted, but 'cell phone' was actually missing here. I've added it now. The main English version should probably have 'cell phone' instead of 'cellphone'.
Do they drop the 'my' here or this sentence is how the correct grammatical way of saying it?
Read the answers above. Swedish often tends to prefer the definite form over the possessive and this is one of those cases.
