"My son is doing his homework."
Translation:Min son sitter och gör läxan.
29 Comments
Why does the swedish phrase include sitter? Does it add a certain meaning to the sentence? (Maybe reinforcing that he is not distracted and is working on his homework?)
Adding a verb like "Sitter", "Står" or "Går", etc, with the main verb is a way of emphasizing that the action is being done right now, instead of every now and then.
I wondered about this. In French we say "in the process of" to emphasise something happening now as opposed to a habitual action. Can we use these verbs with any actions to emphasise a current action, or do we need to learn 100 stock combinations?
why is the following: Min son står och gör läxan. not accepted along with the same sentence used with sitter? (multiple choice)
I tried "Min son håller på att göra laxorna" and was told it's wrong — is that just because of "laxorna" (which I know should use an "ä"), or can I not use "att göra" this way, or is something else going on?
Edit: I've gotten the sentence a few times and tried feeding it variations to try and learn more about it. Based on the answers shown as correct, it seems like "Min son håller på och gör läxan" should be accepted, but it's not accepted either.
In short, I'm still not clear on what I'm getting wrong in the two examples I've given here.
76
So does it follow that more than one of these continuous forms may work to convey the “continuous” sense of the verb?
Yes, there are multiple options. Some are more idiomatic in some situations, and other options in other situations.
- 76
Thanks! It makes sense that there might be appropriate alternatives in some situations!
- 1496
Is there anything wrong with "Han sitter och gör läxorna"? Can he only do one item of homework at a time?
Are we trying to stress that he is sitting to do the homework or could we use "håller på" in this case?
It's a correct answer, not the correct answer. I would presume they are both accepted. If not, report it.
- 522
I simply put "Min son gör läxan.", and it counted it as correct. Is that also an acceptable translation?
Yes. The sitter och [verb] construction and its sibling variations are ways in Swedish of expressing continuous action. But since Swedish doesn't have a proper continuous, the line between the two is blurry at best, and both options work well.
Min son håller på med läxan. Why is this wrong? If I got it right, hålla på med and göra supposed to be synonimous.
There's a conjunction between the verbs, so each part functions as a main clause, though they share the same subject.
