Swedish Inte? Ingen?

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Mathieu Saturday 16th of July 2005 06:18:07 AM
Inte? Ingen? - So just now we were discussing the use of inte and ingen, Hoogard went off to bed (so should I, really) so I can't ask, but here's the deal again:

Jag köper inte Lego längre

and NOT:
Jag köper ingen Lego längre (or inga? don't know)

why not? because on google I found tons of things like "Jag köper ingen musik"

Hoogard said you'd use ingen only when it's sort of countable, but he also gave us:
Jag köper inte bilar längre

So, what I would have expected was:
Jag köper inga bilar längre

Actually, what it comes down to is that I'd have gone for ingen in both cases, but Hoogard used inte on both. Are mine wrong? In that case, what about things like "jag köper inga tidningar" that I found on google? Is it just the 'längre' perhaps that forces the use of 'inte'?

Jadokesa Saturday 16th of July 2005 10:32:35 PM
- No-one ever buys music in Sweden anymore, everyone downloads it from the web. :P

Lego is neuter, so [i]ingen Lego[/i] is ungrammatical. Lego is singular, so [i]inga Lego[/i] is also ungrammatical. [i]inga Legobitar[/i] is acceptable, but you usually don't buy single Lego pieces ;)
So:

[b]Jag köper inte Lego längre
Jag köper inget Lego längre[/b]

are both acceptable in my opinion. I would guess that [i]inte Lego[/i] is more common in spoken language.

My guess is that [i]inte[/i] may always be used, but [i]inget/ingen/inga[/i] may also be used when the noun is neuter/common/plural. This is a hard question, because there is a small difference in their meanings. Perhaps because [i]inte[/i] is linked to the verb, but [i]inget[/i] to the noun.

Rikard Sunday 17th of July 2005 10:27:11 PM
- Yes. I forgot to tell you that you could say "inget Lego".

And as Jadokesa says (welcome back btw) you can always use Inte while the others will have to be gramatically correct =)

Mathieu Monday 18th of July 2005 01:33:28 AM
- Ok, that figures.. I asked it that time because in Dutch the 'ingen/inget/inga' sort of construction is obligatory there so I just wanted to check if it's possible. Thanks guys :)

Phrasebase Archive
	Mathieu	Saturday 16th of July 2005 06:18:07 AM
	Inte? Ingen? - So just now we were discussing the use of inte and ingen, Hoogard went off to bed (so should I, really) so I can't ask, but here's the deal again: Jag köper inte Lego längre and NOT: Jag köper ingen Lego längre (or inga? don't know) why not? because on google I found tons of things like "Jag köper ingen musik" Hoogard said you'd use ingen only when it's sort of countable, but he also gave us: Jag köper inte bilar längre So, what I would have expected was: Jag köper inga bilar längre Actually, what it comes down to is that I'd have gone for ingen in both cases, but Hoogard used inte on both. Are mine wrong? In that case, what about things like "jag köper inga tidningar" that I found on google? Is it just the 'längre' perhaps that forces the use of 'inte'?
	Jadokesa	Saturday 16th of July 2005 10:32:35 PM
	- No-one ever buys music in Sweden anymore, everyone downloads it from the web. :P Lego is neuter, so [i]ingen Lego[/i] is ungrammatical. Lego is singular, so [i]inga Lego[/i] is also ungrammatical. [i]inga Legobitar[/i] is acceptable, but you usually don't buy single Lego pieces ;) So: [b]Jag köper inte Lego längre Jag köper inget Lego längre[/b] are both acceptable in my opinion. I would guess that [i]inte Lego[/i] is more common in spoken language. My guess is that [i]inte[/i] may always be used, but [i]inget/ingen/inga[/i] may also be used when the noun is neuter/common/plural. This is a hard question, because there is a small difference in their meanings. Perhaps because [i]inte[/i] is linked to the verb, but [i]inget[/i] to the noun.
	Rikard	Sunday 17th of July 2005 10:27:11 PM
	- Yes. I forgot to tell you that you could say "inget Lego". And as Jadokesa says (welcome back btw) you can always use Inte while the others will have to be gramatically correct =)
	Mathieu	Monday 18th of July 2005 01:33:28 AM
	- Ok, that figures.. I asked it that time because in Dutch the 'ingen/inget/inga' sort of construction is obligatory there so I just wanted to check if it's possible. Thanks guys :)