# Swedish: Att översätta -ing



## brygg mellanrost

Hej!
Med _tillbringa_ hur skulle man översätta det här till svenskan:

*I spent* three hours *reading* yesterday.

Det är alltid svårt att veta hur man bör översätta -ing formen. På tyska skulle jag översätta så här:

*Ich verbrachte* gestern drei Stunden *mit Lesen*.

Är det möjligt att göra något liknande på svenska? _tillbringa_ ... _med att läsa_ till exempel?

Tack.


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## jonquiliser

Jo, det låter helt ok i mina öron, om än lite styltigt: _jag tillbringade gårdagskvällen med att läsa._ Mer vardagligt skulle vara att säga "jag satt och läste igår". Också i andra fall, där engelskans -ing uttrycker en kontinuerlig handling, kan man ofta använda konstruktionen _hålla på/sitta/ligga/stå och_ på svenska: "I'm cleaning up at home" - jag håller på och städar  hemma. Jag sitter och läser. Jag stod och pratade med min kompis i kassan. Osv. Det finns också andra möjligheter, allt beror på sammanhanget.


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## brygg mellanrost

Okej, tack! 

En fråga till. Vad vore en bra översättning av

I'm going to spend a week in Stockholm, relaxing, drinking coffee and eating cinnamon buns​
Kanske:

*Jag kommer att tillbringa* en vecka i Stockholm *och jag kommer att* slappa, dricka kaffe och äta kanelbullar​
Går det att repetera _kommer att_ så där, eller finns det ett bättre sätt att säga det?


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## Tjahzi

There are (at least) two ways to express that one is going to "spend time" somewhere. I would say the one got used here is rather formal, personally, I would prefer to just use "vara", which sounds less formal. "Jag ska/kommer att vara i Stockholm en vecka." 

Also note that the difference between "ska" and "kommer att" is the randomness and control of what is being refered to. "Ska" indicates that the event in question is controled or that it is the will of the speaker, while something which is outside control is refered to with "kommer att" (on the other hand, "kommer att" doesn't imply that one can't control it).

Some exaples to illustrate my point;

_Jag kommer att komma försent imorgon. (Beacuse I have to go to the dentist.)_

Indicates that this is something which is simply going to happend, more or less without your control. 

_Jag ska komma försent imorgon. (Because I'm just so tired of my job.)_

Indicates that one actively avoids getting on time.


In some contexts those are interchangeable. However, if you want to denote that it is your will and choice to stay in Stockholm (instead of leaving it open for speculations), I would recommend using "ska". Maybe this was old news for you and beside what you were asking, in that case, I'm sorry. On a side note, after having written the part below I realise that, at least to me, "kommer att" sounds at least as good in the following example, just keeping the distinction in case you find it to be useful information.


So, if you want to avoid the double "kommer att/ska", you can opt to rearrange the sentence like this.

_Jag kommer (att) vara i Stockholm och slappa, dricka kaffe och äta kanelbullar en vecka._

I tried some other constructions, but this one definatly sounds the most natural to me. The "att" can be omitted since the infinitive verb form is so easy to distinguish. I'm quite sure that's how most natives would express it. Howevere, there are of course a lot of aspects to be stressed. Do I seem to have understood what you were really asking?


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## brygg mellanrost

Yes, that's lovely!

Originally I was just asking about the best way the translate the English *to spend time doing sth*, but it's always useful to be told the thing about future tense/intention!
It's just that I always stumble over the translation of things that are continuous tense in English, particularly with *to spend +time +ing*, because it's such a common construction in English. It's just good to know what sounds the most natural to you.
Thankyou!


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## Lugubert

Tjahzi said:


> _Jag kommer (att) vara i Stockholm och slappa, dricka kaffe och äta kanelbullar en vecka._
> 
> I tried some other constructions, but this one definatly sounds the most natural to me. The "att" can be omitted since the infinitive verb form is so easy to distinguish.


At my age (64), leaving out the 'att' is unconceivable. But the infinitive marker omission is growing, and is increasingly accepted.


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## Tjahzi

Lugubert is right. I should have stressed that I was mainly refering to spoken language, in written I'd say keeping the "att" is still standard, however, not many people while notice whether you keep it or not, I believe.


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## jonquiliser

And just for the record, now we're at it anyway, I also can't conceive of leaving out the _att_, though that probably has more with regional differences than age to do. I'd pronounce it either [att] or [å].

And a little note more; "att slappa" doesn't have the same ring as "att koppla av" to me. Att slappa is more specific, as in hiding away in a couch and not moving for a whole day, or something like that. _Att koppla av_ is more generally _to relax_.


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## brygg mellanrost

Well, I won't leave out 'att'; I'm not good enough at Swedish to be lax about things. My Swedish family are all quite old and conservative anyway; I wouldn't dare do it in front of them!

I haven't heard *koppla av* before. Thanks for that.


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## Wilma_Sweden

brygg mellanrost said:


> *Jag kommer att tillbringa* en vecka i Stockholm *och jag kommer att* slappa, dricka kaffe och äta kanelbullar Går det att repetera _kommer att_ så där, eller finns det ett bättre sätt att säga det?


Det blir en klumpig repetition. Varför inte bara säga så här:

Jag kommer att tillbringa en vecka i Stockholm med att koppla av, dricka kaffe och äta kanelbullar.

Som nämnt ovan kan man absolut inte utelämna *att* i kommer att-konstruktioner, däremot finns det många andra sammanhang där *att* kan utelämnas. 

/Wilma


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## ArnaudC

Tjahzi said:


> _Jag kommer att komma försent imorgon. (Beacuse I have to go to the dentist.)_
> 
> Indicates that this is something which is simply going to happend, more or less without your control.
> 
> _Jag ska komma försent imorgon. (Because I'm just so tired of my job.)_
> 
> Indicates that one actively avoids getting on time.


 
Jag kommer sent imorgon -> I will come late tomorrow. Close future can be expressed with present.

Jag blir försenad imorgon -> I will be delayed tomorrow

Back to the original question:
*I spent* three hours *reading* yesterday. -> jag läste i 3 timmar igår. Which translates into "I read for 3 hours".

Don't translate everything word for word. I becomes very formal very quickly, and it's a dead-end in many cases, a lot of expressions or formulations don't translate well.


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