# Swedish (into):  Welcome to the Gulf of Finland



## Fabulist

Is

"Välkommen till Finska viken, 3. juli 1790"

correct Swedish for the English

"Welcome to the Gulf of Finland, July 3, 1790"?

Thank you.  Prepositions and articles are always difficult for learners.


----------



## Tjahzi

Well, apart from that _3. juli 1790_ isn't standard format for dates, it sounds fine. (It could be worth noting however, that _välkommen_ indicates that the phrase is said to a single person (in contrast to _välkomna_, which is the plural form)).


----------



## Fabulist

Thank you for such a prompt response at something like 3 a.m.! What _is_ the standard form for dates (especially in 1790)? And does one use "välkommen" or "välkomna" if people might arrive either singly or in groups? (I think most will arrive one at a time, so I should use the singular form, but I am curious about how Swedish approaches ambiguity about that.)


----------



## sakvaka

As a nonnative, I think the correct form would be _den 3 juli 1790_ (pronunciation: den tredje juli sjuttonhundranitti[o]). Note! Without any periods and including the determinative article.

By the way, are you sure you are referring to the right gulf? _Bottniska viken_ is the Gulf of Bothnia, near Sweden and the Swedish-speaking regions of Finland, and _Finska viken_ is the Gulf of Finland, bordering the South of Finland and Estonia.


----------



## AutumnOwl

"Välkomna till Finska viken den 3 juli 1790"


----------



## Tjahzi

We had a thread dealing with _välkommen_ vs _välkomna_ a few months ago... I believe some people used the forms interchangeably, but technically, they are short forms of "du/ni är _välkommen_/_välkomna_". As such, what matters is how many people are addressed, not how many that are actually coming.

(You were lucky, I just got home and checked the forums. )


----------



## Fabulist

sakvaka said:


> As a nonnative, I think the correct form would be _den 3 juli 1790_ (pronunciation: den tredje juli sjuttonhundranitti[o]). Note! Without any periods and including the determinative article.
> 
> By the way, are you sure you are referring to the right gulf? _Bottniska viken_ is the Gulf of Bothnia, near Sweden and the Swedish-speaking regions of Finland, and _Finska viken_ is the Gulf of Finland, bordering the South of Finland and Estonia.



Thank you.  I am welcoming people in Swedish and Russian to a simulation of a naval battle between Swedish and Russian warships that occurred (or could have occurred) off the island of Hogland, in the Gulf of Finland south of Vyborg on July 3, 1790.  (Probably none of the participants is fluent in either Swedish _or_ Russian, but I want to know that I have it right.)  The Russians name that eastward extension of the Baltic Sea for Finland, too.  The area bounded by Finland on the north, Ingria on the east, and Estonia on the south was the scene of many naval battles between the Swedes and the Russians between 1714 and 1809.

My thanks also to Tjahazi and to Autumn Owl.


----------



## Tjahzi

Wow, sounds interesting. I'd say it's _Добро пожаловать на Финский залив, 3 июня 1790_ in Russian.


----------



## Fabulist

After an extended discussion about changes in terminology and about what various parts of the Gulf of Finland were called in Russian at different times, that's close to the consensus in the Russian forum for 18th-century Russian, except that it should be _в Финской заливъ _and _іюня_ in pre-Revolutionary spelling. 

I mostly post in the English-only forum, where we're not allowed to mix languages.


----------

