"Maten smakar gott."

Translation: The food tastes good.

[Chris-Butler]

Since mat is an 'en' word, why isn't it 'god'?

[Zmrzlina]

Because in Swedish things taste adverb, unlike English where they taste adjective. So god has to be gott here. Arnauti gave some examples here.

[Chris-Butler]

Thanks, yes I'd since found that explanation and tried to find/delete this, tack!

[MarkBorkBorkBork]

For those curious, smack is the same word in English. When you smack your lips after eating, you're not hitting them, but tasting them. Also related to adding a smatch of spice, and having only a smattering of knowledge.

[Arnauti]

You can smacka med läpparna in Swedish, but our linguists think the origin of that is onomatopoetic (imitates the sound it makes). Actually I suspect it's the same for the English verb, but I guess it's hard to prove.

[MarkBorkBorkBork]

Yes, that's a definite possibility in English, too.

[volmortanto]

Should tasty also be accepted, or is it improper withe tastes (the verb)?

[Sninguistics]

Yeah, sounds contrived to me. 'The food is tasty' sounds about right though, but I'd imagine that's maten är god, not -smakar gott.

[INF2401.]

Why isnt "The food is tasty" accepted. I am not a native english speaker but I could very well imagine this to be said after eating dinner for example.

[JarlNydahl]

Smaka gott = be tasty. The food is tasty.

[follieskate]

When do you use "gott" and when do you use "bra". I've seen both.

[RevShirls]

Definitely gott when referring to food. Quite common for children and some adults to say gottgottigottgott :)

[MarkBorkBorkBork]

god/gott are used as adjectives, while bra is usually used as an adverb. From what I've seen, god is especially used for tasty or pleasant, while bra is used for well or high quality. Both can mean good, of course.

I hope one of the native speakers who follow me can elaborate.

[samira22401]

Why not goog because of mat