26 Comments
Does this construction have to be correct as to the person's actual physical position?
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If I am sitting and reading, and someone on the phone asks me what I am doing, might I say "jag står och läser" to mean "I am in the middle of reading"?
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If my husband is in the other room reading, and my friend asks me over the telephone what he is doing, but I am not sure if said husband is sitting or laying down, which one would I use? Is it personal preference? Are they both correct?
890
Yes, it's only correct to say this if she's actually standing up. You can't say Jag står och läser if you were in fact sitting down while reading (or you could, but you would be lying :D )
For 2, you'd make an educated guess. Does he usually sit or lie down? It doesn't matter if your guess isn't correct. Since most people rarely stand up and read, you would never guess står och läser unless your husband really happens to be doing that a lot.
If you were just to say "hon gråter", does that still get across a sense of being continuous in the right context, or do you HAVE to specify with "står, ligger" etc?
Thanks, Lundgren8. The argument in your reference is quite right of course. Things just are not said the same way in different languages. And that needs to be accepted. But it is also nice to try and convey the whole image. In this instance a similar sentence could be translated as: she just stood there crying, which would be quite acceptable English. Using a past tense make the construct more appropriate I believe. However, he present tense also works. Perhaps it needs the addition of -just- and -there-. An interesting consequence of your reference is that when going from English to Swedish: -he was crying- can become: -han grätt, han satt och grätt, han stod och grätt, han låg och grätt. Take your pick! Quite different images. One would have to use: -han grätt- (I think). How did the designers of this course take this into account.?
I had the same problem. The choice of words was: sit, stand, crying, she, is. I had to go with "she is crying" and it was marked as correct, but is wrong. I have reported it
- 890
'She is crying' is the correct solution. See Lundgren8:s explanation in this topic: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/6899078
Could this and other continuous forms be seen as = "still"?
Jag håller på äter = I am still eating.
Jag ligger och läser = I am still reading (lying down)?
- 890
No, it doesn't imply that. It's just continuous, like is + ING in English, plus position.
Mobile app only lets me put in either "She is stand crying" (incorrect) or "She is crying" (correct)... I think having the full sentence available would be helpful.
I don't get this ... Hon stör och gräter in English she is crying... What about the word HON STÖR OCH ?
That's not exactly incorrect, but it's unidiomatic. Står + verb, sitter + verb, ligger + verb etc. are used to form the progressive in Swedish. So compare "jag läser" - "I read" to "jag sitter och läser" - "I am reading."
You are right, "och" = "and."
Translated word-for-word to English, it would be "I sit and read."
But that is not a good translation from Swedish to English because those four words put together like that mean something different in English than they do in Swedish.
In English, "I sit and read" would mean that sitting and reading is an activity that I do, but not necessarily one that I am doing right now.
Example:
"What do you do while you are waiting for the bus?"
"I sit and read."
OR
"I sometimes sit and read at the kitchen table while Mom makes dinner."
OR
"I often sit and read for hours."
To translate this properly, the English version would be, "I am reading."
Swedish likes to use "står och” (“stand and...") or “sitter och” ("sit and...") to mean "doing this right now."
To translate this to English, we can ignore the "sitter och" because it is just a way of indicating that the person is doing the activity right now.
The way to indicate this in English is to use the “to be” verb (am, is, are) and attach “-ing” to the end of the next verb.
“Jag sitter och läser” = “I am reading” (definitely doing the activity right now)
“Jag läser” = “I read” (something I sometimes do) or “I am reading” (right now)
Does this make sense? I hope I haven't confused you more!
