Can't follow meaning....

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Devonian
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Can't follow meaning....

Postby Devonian » 2017-01-30, 20:39

Hi

Had an email from a friend in Sweden today the full meaning of which I can't quite follow....

"....din svenska var riktigt bra även om engelsk ordföljd gå igen."

"....even if the English word order goes back ?"

Much appreciate any help

Thanks :)

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Osias
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Re: Can't follow meaning....

Postby Osias » 2017-01-30, 22:04

Maybe "backwards"? I mean, maybe he/she's saying you use English word order in places where is should be the opposite?
2017 est l'année du (fr) et de l'(de) pour moi. Parle avec moi en eux, s'il te plait.

Allekanger

Re: Can't follow meaning....

Postby Allekanger » 2017-01-30, 22:36

Devonian wrote:"....din svenska var riktigt bra även om engelsk ordföljd går igen."

Yes, Osias is right. Att gå igen (with the stress on igen) means 'to haunt' or 'to come back'. So in this case, your English word order is haunting your Swedish. :P It's not the most common expression out there, but I'm happy to see someone use it. The same gen can be found in gengångare ('the spirit of a person who died a violent death'). Another example:

Mönstret går igen i flera av tapeterna. - 'The pattern can be found in several of the wallpapers.'

Also, notice the corrected version with present tense in the word går in the quote above.

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Devonian
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Re: Can't follow meaning....

Postby Devonian » 2017-01-31, 10:19

I think I'll take this to mean "even if your English word order is marred."

In fact I'd never heard of this English/Swedish word order arrangement before so thanks a lot for your help.... :)

Allekanger

Re: Can't follow meaning....

Postby Allekanger » 2017-01-31, 17:37

Devonian wrote:I think I'll take this to mean "even if your English word order is marred."

No, your friend is saying that your Swedish word order is marred, due to influences from English word order. It's not uncommon for learners to use the word order of their native language when speaking/writing another language.

For example, in Swedish one would say om du går, går jag, which means 'if you go, I go'. In Swedish, the verb går and the pronoun jag in the second part of the phrase have switched places compared to the first part (om du går), while in English the stay the same.

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Devonian
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Re: Can't follow meaning....

Postby Devonian » 2017-01-31, 18:06

Yes my mistake I meant Swedish word order is marred.

I just read somewhere that it's used when talking about time or place....


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