# Swedish: fakta



## normordm

I recently noticed adjectives are not used in the plural form when describing "fakta"(and probably other plurals). Is there a reason for this? Fakta *is *the plural of faktum, right? So why am I seeing:

rolig fakta
intressant fakta
... 

Instead of:

roliga fakta
intressanta fakta
... 

Tack på förhand


----------



## MattiasNYC

I couldn't tell you but my guess is that right or wrong some Swedish people have just sort of ended up using "fakta" instead of "faktum". You definitely still see "faktum" used, for example when people say "But the fact is that..." = "Faktum är att..."


----------



## Ben Jamin

As far as I know Latin hasn't been taught in Norway since 1896 (except for a few special schools) and disappeared completely in 1974. I presume that the situation in other Scandinavian countries has been similar and people don't recognize the Latin plural endings any longer. _Faktum_ or _fakta_ is all the same to the general public. Other Latin plurals have had the same fate: _fora, narkotika, farmaka,_ and many others.


----------



## FluentSpeakerNot

I didn't even know "faktum" is the singular of "fakta". I've probably heard it many years ago, because it seems familiar, but it's not really the sort of word you hear a lot. The exception is the phrase that Mattias mentioned "Faktum är att ...". I have heard that phrase many times, and I might even have used it myself, but for me it's just one of those old expressions that you use without thinking what it actually means.

I think I would probably treat it as an uncountable in many situations. "en fakta" doesn't sound quite right. I would translate "It's a fact" as "Det är fakta". On the other hand, both "rolig fakta" and "roliga fakta" sounds OK to me and I might even prefer the latter one in some situations.


----------



## roligfakta

The faktum is something that has happened or happens now and the fakta are how it happened or happens. For example, Faktum är "in fact", they are married now, Fakta "facts" about the wedding. They married in a church he had black clothes and she had a white dress


----------



## Ben Jamin

roligfakta said:


> The faktum is something that has happened or happens now and the fakta are how it happened or happens. For example


Do you refer to English, Swedish or Dutch?


----------



## roligfakta

jag refererar till svenska
Ordet Faktum är ett konstaterande. ordet fakta beskriver faktumet.
rolig fakta kan du sätta mycket före, mycket rolig fakta men inte många
roliga fakta kan du sätta både mycket och många före,  många roliga fakta eller mycket roliga fakta
du kan säga ett roligt faktum
eller många roliga faktum
Ordet faktum ändras inte i plural på svenska 

I refer to Swedish
The word Faktum is a statement. The word fakta describes the statment.
"rolig fakta" funny facts you can put very before, very funny facts but not many
"roliga fakta" funny facts you can put both very and many before, many fun facts or very funny facts
You can say a funny "faktum" statment
or many fun "faktum" statments
The word "faktum" statement is not changed in plural in Swedish


----------



## Kieppi

roligfakta said:


> jag refererar till svenska
> Ordet Faktum är ett konstaterande. ordet fakta beskriver faktumet.
> rolig fakta kan du sätta mycket före, mycket rolig fakta men inte många
> roliga fakta kan du sätta både mycket och många före, många roliga fakta eller mycket roliga fakta
> du kan säga ett roligt faktum
> eller många roliga faktum
> Ordet faktum ändras inte i plural på svenska
> 
> I refer to Swedish
> The word Faktum is a statement. The word fakta describes the statment.
> "rolig fakta" funny facts you can put very before, very funny facts but not many
> "roliga fakta" funny facts you can put both very and many before, many fun facts or very funny facts
> You can say a funny "faktum" statment
> or many fun "faktum" statments
> The word "faktum" statement is not changed in plural in Swedish



I have to say I don't agree. Faktum and fakta are not two different words. The singular form is faktum and the plural can be either faktum or fakta (see  faktum | svenska.se). According to Svensk ordbok the meaning of the word faktum is "sakförhållande som inte kan bestridas" and the word is often used in plural "i mots. till tyckanden". It also says that "Fakta kan bara vara pluralform; *ett fakta är felaktigt." That means that the word fakta can't be used as singular form, i.e. "rolig fakta" (or "roligt fakta") is not correct.


----------



## roligfakta

För mig är fakta också information och ett faktum visar om de är rätta eller felaktig
t.ex i en rättegång båda sidor lägger fram sina fakta i målet, och rätten bedömer sedan vilka fakta som är korrekta.
Om fakta bara var sakförhållande som inte kan bestridas, då kunde rätten inte bedöma om de fakta som lags fram i målet var rätta eller felakiga.

Det är rätt att du inte kan ha ett framför ordet fakta ett fakta, ett roligt fakta o.s.v.  men rolig fakta är i obestämd form så det kan man säga
exempel ett: Har du Fakta om jorden?, -Ja jorden är rund. Tack, Det är rolig fakta om jorden, eller Tack, det är ett roligt faktum om jorden, men du svarar inte i detta fall Tack, det är roliga fakta 
exempel två: Har du Fakta om jorden?, -Ja jorden är rund, och där finns det hav och berg. Tack, Det är roliga fakta om jorden, eller Tack, det är rolig fakta om jorden

For me, fakta are also information and a faktum shows whether it is right or wrong
eg in a trial both sides present their fakta in the case, and the court then judges which fakta are correct.
If the fakta were only factual matters that cannot be disputed, then the court could not judge whether the fakta were correct or incorrect which were presented in the case.

It is true that you cannot have the word fakta in sigular form, "ett fakta", "ett roligt fakta" etc. But "rolig fakta" are in indefinite form so you can say that
example one: Do you have "fakta" about the earth? -Yes the earth is round. Thanks, It's "rolig fakta" about the Earth, or Thank you, it's a "roligt faktum" about the earth, but you don't answer in this case Thank you, it's "roliga fakta" about the earth
example two: Do you have the facts about the earth ?, -Yes the earth is round, and there are seas and mountains. Thanks, It's "roliga fakta" about the earth, or thank you, it's "rolig fakta" about the earth


----------



## MattiasNYC

I have to disagree with that.

I think you're being inconsistent if you are saying that "fakta" are presented in a trial and the court then decides which are correct, but then after say that the earth being round is "fakta". If we ignore for a second the issue of singular and plural it simply doesn't make sense to interpret the word that way. "Fakta" as information that is only arguably correct to me seems fundamentally wrong. 

For example, the premise of the Swedish television program "Kalla fakta" is indeed that the program presents "cold hard facts". It isn't that it's giving the viewer some information that's up for debate, it's about the actual facts.

As for "fakta" in a court I think you're thinking about it the wrong way semantically. Both sides present evidence they say is true. They present whatever it is as being fact, as being true, and the role of the court is essentially to evaluate all available evidence and then either convict or acquit the accused. But if the process shows that something that was presented as a fact was incorrect it ceases to be a fact, it becomes something else.

If I say that it was "fakta" that the Volkswagen beetle was the fastest car in the world in 1995 then I'm wrong. It doesn't remain "fakta" while I am wrong, it goes from being "fakta" to being something else... a "lie", a "misstatement"... a "misconception" perhaps. But it is certainly no longer "fakta".

I think you can illustrate how it is probably not correct to view "fakta" as only information and "faktum" as proven "fakta" by asking yourself if the following is correct:

- We can say that the statement "the earth is flat" is "fakta" about the earth.

Can we say that? If "fakta" doesn't have to be correct, then we can. If "fakta" has to also be correct, then we cannot. If "fakta" is derivative or closely related to "faktum" then it clearly indicates that it is incorrect.


----------



## roligfakta

If the Swedish TV program "Kalla Fakta" was broadcast at the time when everyone thought that the earth was flat, they would say it there until science discovered that the earth is actually round


----------



## MattiasNYC

… and then they would no longer call it "fakta", right?


----------



## roligfakta

Sen hade säkert Kellyanne Conway försvarat Kalla Fakta och sagt att det var alternativa fakta. Skämt o sido, Om faktum uppstår att faktan är felaktig kallar man det sedan kanske för felaktig information, 
för mig har det då alltid varit felaktig information och inte ett sakförhållande som inte kan bestridas. Det är vad du säger också


----------



## raumar

If we return to the grammar, let me ask the Swedish native speakers a question: 



roligfakta said:


> exempel ett: Har du Fakta om jorden?, -Ja jorden är rund. Tack, Det är rolig fakta om jorden, eller Tack, det är ett roligt faktum om jorden, men du svarar inte i detta fall Tack, det är roliga fakta
> exempel två: Har du Fakta om jorden?, -Ja jorden är rund, och där finns det hav och berg. Tack, Det är roliga fakta om jorden, eller Tack, det är rolig fakta om jorden



From my Norwegian perspective, this looks incorrect. More precisely, the answer "Tack, det är rolig fakta om jorden" looks completely wrong in both cases, no matter if we are talking about one or two facts. 

In example one, the answer should be "Tack, det är ett roligt faktum om jorden". As Kieppi has pointed ot, the dictionary says that "Fakta kan bara vara pluralform; *ett fakta är felaktigt." But, as Ben Jamin and FluentSpeakerNot have explained, many people don't know that "faktum" is the singular of "fakta". So I would certainly not be surprised to hear people say "Tack, det är ett roligt fakta om jorden", or maybe "Tack, det är en rolig fakta om jorden".

In contrast, based on the Norwegian use of these words, I would be much more surprised to hear "fakta" used as an uncountable noun, as in "det är rolig fakta om jorden". The TV programme, for example, is called "Kalla Fakta" and not "Kall Fakta". What do the Swedish native speakers think about this?


----------



## MattiasNYC

roligfakta said:


> Om faktum uppstår att faktan är felaktig kallar man det sedan kanske för felaktig information,
> för mig har det då alltid varit felaktig information och inte ett sakförhållande som inte kan bestridas. Det är vad du säger också



Yeah but you're missing the point. The point is that you would _not_ continue to call that information "fakta" exactly because it was no longer shown to be true, and that is the exact same characteristic of the word "faktum". That's the point.

I think any use of "fakta" as simply 'information proposed to be true' is about as loose a use of the word as using it as singular instead of just plural.


----------



## MattiasNYC

Raumar, I agree with what you wrote.


----------



## roligfakta

Here you can read rolig och intresant fakta about USA  Rolig fakta om USA 
Here you can read rolig fakta about your body Rolig fakta om kroppen – facts om människokroppen


----------

