"Vi tycker om frukt, särskilt äpplen."

Translation: We like fruit, especially apples.

[whispmelle]

Why is "särskilt" sometimes pronounced with an SH sound and sometimes with an WH, depending on the speed?

[OsoGegenHest]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvlwXQ1bDvc

[sandraollin]

thank you that was very helpful! and discouraging haha have a lingot

[JosephCapo1]

why does apple look like "the apple" here = (

[Berniebud]

"Äpple" is an "Ett" noun, so "The apple" would be "Äpplet".

"Ett" nouns ending in vowels get a "-n" at the end to form the plural.

https://www.duolingo.com/skill/sv/Plurals

[JosephCapo1]

tack!

[VanessaMur467893]

Since english is not my native language, wouldn't it be more common to say "we like fruits, especially apples" instead of "we like fruit, especially apples"?
Then in Swedish is this form of saying more commonly than using the plural of "frukt"? Thanks in advance

[4oYBIxtO]

Fruit and frukt are collective nouns and when used this way they should be in singular form

[Peter292948]

I would never say "We like fruits" (native speaker)

[LadySeabrooke]

Might be a regional difference? I'm a native speaker too and if someone were speaking informally i wouldn't really bat an eye

[Steph.Ro]

You can use fruits if you want to say "stawberries and apples are differents fruits" or if you mean several pieces of fruit. But most of the time you would use fruit as a collective noun, and therefore in the singular. "types of fruit", "you should eat lots of fruit", etc.

[nehakl23]

Why can't 'specially' work in this context?

[sotnosen93]

According to Wikipedia, "specially" in the sense of "in particular" (which is what "särskilt" means in this context) is proscribed, meaning some educators advise against its use. Personally I would also recommend against it, as it feels too informal for me. Don't forget that Duolingo is a vocabulary and grammar tool, so it's best to stick to common, straightforward translations like "especially" since every new accepted translation needs to be added manually.

Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=specially#English

[Nickelhouse]

Why is "om" needed here? Can't it just be "vi tycker frukt"?

[Zmrzlina]

"Tycka om" is a so-called phrasal verb where a verb and a particle belong together, wich a certain meaning. This is occuring in English as well, where "put up" is a different verb that just "put".

So no, you can't just say "tycker" instead as that means something else.

[sotnosen93]

To expand on this, "tycka" on its own means to think, as if to have an opinion. Your sentence could be used in the context of for example "Vad ska vi äta?" "Vi tycker frukt." ("What should (literally: will) we eat?" "We think fruit.")

[Nickelhouse]

Ah, I see. That settles it then. Thanks for the help.

[denieus]

I used specially and it didn't accept as a valid answer.

[Huguenot7]

So äpple used the same ending for both the definite and indefinite plural? Bloody marvellous. I think I will go do the suomi course to rest my brain.