"Han skickar konstiga signaler."

Translation: He is sending strange signals.

[mariocwcnow]

Could these signals be romantic? Do the swedes have another word for that?

[inequation]

That's also my question — are the "signals" here a euphemism, or could he be e.g. telegraphing nonsensical Morse code values?

[devalanteriel]

They could be either, but I didn't even consider the latter possibility until you mentioned it.

[FRSV]

Is it just me or does the normal speed version sound like she's saying "Han skickaDE konstiga signaler" instead of "skickar"?

[MarkBorkBorkBork]

Sounds like skickar to me.

[Lundgren8]

I don’t hear anything, but the tapped r and a quick d can be very similar.

[CTfalcoUSA]

I agree that there is a weird sound before "konstiga"!

[impy_imp]

Is "Han skickar konstiga signaler" used for saying "he is sending mixed messages" - often used in a romantic context to mean you can't tell if he likes you or not ?

[devalanteriel]

Definitely, yes.

[impy_imp]

Thanks. I wonder if American English uses "strange signals" for "mixed messages" ? I was trying to work out the usage/meaning for the English sentence and hence the most likely usage for the Swedish sentence. I saw above that the Swedish could also be for strange morse code signals, so 'strange signals' is a valid translation, it just doesn't seem to me that it would be used nearly as much as 'mixed messages'.

[Segwyne]

As an American, I have never heard "strange signals" in English, only "mixed messages" or "mixed signals".

[avcara]

But, "He is sending mixed signals" was not accepted.

[devalanteriel]

I think I wasn't a contributor when I wrote the above, so I didn't realise. Will fix that.

[slandersson]

"he sends peculiar signals" disallowed

[devalanteriel]

That's more like udda, or egendomliga.

[Patty13647]

I thought this could also be, "He is sending out strange messages." Is that also right?

[Yeblick]

For all verbs, would you use the infinitive form, for example, han springa, fir he runs. Nit meaning he is running, but he runs simetimes. Ir he us a runner who runs.

[Arnauti]

No, we can never use them like that. The infinitive does not show time, so we always need another verb which does that. Han tycker om att springa 'He likes to run'. where tycker om is the verb in present which shows time.

[Yeblick]

So how would you just say, "I run" or "I speak english". Would you just say "Jag pratar engelska"? Because I feel like that means, currently speaking English, not just "I can speak English." Is there a separate meaning for this in Swedish or no?

[Arnauti]

Yes, the present covers both of those, plus it is used more often to refer to future than in English, plus you can sometimes use it when you'd prefer a can construction in English. Our present tense is very versatile. Of course you can also say things like Jag kan svenska if you really want to say that you know Swedish.

Here's a link to a discussion about the Swedish counterparts to the English present continuous vs the simple present https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5954508

[Yeblick]

Thanks!!

[Yeblick]

Wow... For, for, not, or****