# Swedish: är.



## FabianoRMS

Hello,

* Once again, "är" has confused me. I would like to understand its use:
*1 - The sentence is: "_Finns inget jag behöver som är någon annanstans_".
2 - If I understood appropriately the sentence above means, in English, "_There's nothing I need like being somewhere else_". I think it sounds better, in English, like "_There's nothing I need more than being somewhere else_". 
3 - If, *and only if*, what I understood about the Swedish sentence is correct, I don't understand the "_är_" there. I'd use "_att vara_" to replace if I have to write this sentence, but it sounds odd.


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## Ogago

_"Finns inget jag behöver som *är* någon annanstans"_

"Är" (att vara, var, har varit) is often used instead of "finns"(att finnas, fanns, har funnits).
Like "Var *är* glasen för någonstans?" "Titta i köksskåpet, där *är* dom nog." instead of "Var *finns* glasen för någonstans?" "Titta i köksskåpet, där *finns* dom nog."

However, if your English sentence "_There's nothing I need most than being somewhere else_" is correct, I would rather translate it to "Det finns inget jag behöver mer (!) än att finnas nån annanstans" to be proper Swedish.


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## applefarm

Hi,
Maybe you are confused because you expect that verb "to need"/"att behöva" must act only one way.

But this verb acts two ways:
a) as a "modal/help" verb.
b) as a not-modal verb.

Modal verbs (kan, borde, behöver...) use infitive verb like "att vara" which you expect, example:

_1. jag behöver vara där - i need to be there

_(Also note that _modal verbs doesn't use "att" attribute there, you don't say "behöver att vara där")
_
And here is example when _verb _takes_ a _noun _after, not a verb, in that case that verb "behöver" acts like a plain non-modal verb:

2. __jag behöver ett äpple - i need an apple._
Here the behöver is a simple verb that takes a noun after itself.

I guess you expected that behöver always acts like a modal verb and therefore requires "vara" right after it.


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## Ben Jamin

I understand the sentence "_Finns inget jag behöver som är någon annanstans" _as_ "There is nothing  (that) __I __need, that is to be found somewhere else". __With other words: I have all I need here where I am, and I don't need to look for something else elsewhere.
_Am I right?


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## FabianoRMS

Hi,

Thanks for the answers, people. It helped so much, even when I think that Ben Jamin's answer is too advanced for me.


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## raumar

Ben Jamin is probably right - so let me try to explain it in another way: Your problem may not be "_är_", but your translation of "_som_".

"_Som_" can mean "like", but also "who/which/that". As far as I can see, it means "that" in this sentence - so you should replace "like being" with "that is" in your translation.


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## Ben Jamin

FabianoRMS said:


> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for the answers, people. It helped so much, even when I think that Ben Jamin's answer is too advanced for me.



Não preciso alguma coisa que pode ser encontrada em outro lugar.


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## FabianoRMS

Ben Jamin said:


> Não preciso alguma coisa que pode ser encontrada em outro lugar.



I see now, Ben Jamin. Very kind of you trying to translate it in Portuguese.


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## Ben Jamin

FabianoRMS said:


> I see now, Ben Jamin. Very kind of you trying to translate it in Portuguese.


Was the Portuguese very bad? Should it be "possa", not "pode"? And "nenhuma" instead of "alguma"?


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## FabianoRMS

Ben Jamin said:


> Was the Portuguese very bad? Should it be "possa", not "pode"? And "nenhuma" instead of "alguma"?



Ben Jamin, your Portuguese is great! Let me give you a little hand, then. In Portuguese, "precisar" is a verb which needs a preposition sometimes (I can help you or you can look for "verbos transitivos direitos e indiretos" / "verbos intransitivos"). In this case we would use "de" (preposition):

- "Não*** preciso *de* *alguma **coisa*/coisa alguma/*nenhuma coisa*/coisa nenhuma que _pode/possa_ ser encontrada em outro lugar".
1. "pode" = it's about something that you have certain; it's a fact. In the case above, you're sure that there's something in another place, but you don't need it.
2. "possa" = it's a possibility. In the case above, you are not sure if there's something in another place, but you don't need it anyway.
3. "alguma/nenhuma" = these both terms can be used correctly; "nenhum (masculine)/nenhuma (feminine)" is most common in spoken language, but "algum (masculine)/alguma (feminine)" is usual and more polished than "nenhuma".

- The way you translated is very beautiful. It sounds really poetic, but we should translate it like this:
1. Não**** há nada que eu precise que esteja em outro lugar. 

Det finns = there is = há;
Inget = nothing = nada;
Jag = I = Eu;
Att behöva = to need = precisar (de);
Som är = which is = que está/esteja ("está/esteja" has the same explanion of "pode/possa");
Någon annanstans = somewhere else = em outro lugar;

*________________________________________
****Coisa alguma/coisa nenhuma = anything (negative), but it can be translated as "nothing". *
*** "Não há nada [...]", we always use "_não_" before a negative sentence. In English, you should not write "_there isn't nothing_" because I think it should be "double-negative", but in Portuguese we do: "Não há nada [...]" would be, literally, in English, "There is not nothing" or "Det finns inte inget", in Swedih, or something like that.


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## Ben Jamin

FabianoRMS said:


> Ben Jamin, your Portuguese is great! Let me give you a little hand, then. In Portuguese, "precisar" is a verb which needs a preposition sometimes (I can help you or you can look for "verbos transitivos direitos e indiretos" / "verbos intransitivos"). In this case we would use "de" (preposition):
> 
> - "Não*** preciso *de* *alguma **coisa*/coisa alguma/*nenhuma coisa*/coisa nenhuma que _pode/possa_ ser encontrada em outro lugar".
> 1. "pode" = it's about something that you have certain; it's a fact. In the case above, you're sure that there's something in another place, but you don't need it.
> 2. "possa" = it's a possibility. In the case above, you are not sure if there's something in another place, but you don't need it anyway.
> 3. "alguma/nenhuma" = these both terms can be used correctly; "nenhum (masculine)/nenhuma (feminine)" is most common in spoken language, but "algum (masculine)/alguma (feminine)" is usual and more polished than "nenhuma".
> 
> - The way you translated is very beautiful. It sounds really poetic, but we should translate it like this:
> 1. Não**** há nada que eu precise que esteja em outro lugar.
> 
> Det finns = there is = há;
> Inget = nothing = nada;
> Jag = I = Eu;
> Att behöva = to need = precisar (de);
> Som är = which is = que está/esteja ("está/esteja" has the same explanion of "pode/possa");
> Någon annanstans = somewhere else = em outro lugar;
> 
> *________________________________________
> ****Coisa alguma/coisa nenhuma = anything (negative), but it can be translated as "nothing". *
> *** "Não há nada [...]", we always use "_não_" before a negative sentence. In English, you should not write "_there isn't nothing_" because I think it should be "double-negative", but in Portuguese we do: "Não há nada [...]" would be, literally, in English, "There is not nothing" or "Det finns inte inget", in Swedih, or something like that.


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## Ben Jamin

Muito obrigado Fabiano!
My Portuguese is not very steady (I know Spanish better), and I was not sure about the double negation, that is common in Spanish. I was also misled by my Spanish (necesito algo) when I skipped the "de" after "preciso". It is like "me gusta algo/gosto de alguma coisa".
I was surprised, however, that you call my translation poetic, as I would rather guess from your explanation that it was unidiomatic (grammatically (almost) correct, but not the usual way people talk).

By the way double (and triple/quadruple/quintuple) negation is obligatory in my mother tongue. The sentence "nobody has ever done any harm to anybody" will involve five negative words in Polish. That's why I am so cautious with using it in other languages (!).


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