Can someone please explain to me the meaning of "vel"? Yes, it means "well", but I see it used in contexts where that translation simply makes no sense. Here is a recent example I came across: Det vil du vel ikke? The person who wrote it gave the equivalent translation as being "You wouldn't want that, would you?". I still do not understand the use of "vel" here.
Also, as a separate question, can someone please give the English equivalent for the following sentence: "Kinesisk går jo ikke an å snakke rett-fram, må ha med all den "synginga" oppover og nedover?". I've tried to find various translations, but all have been gibberish to me.
A supplement to Patrick's answer:«Vel» as an adverb is often used in suggestions. The translation of «Det vil du vel ikke?» that you have already been given («You wouldn’t want that, would you?») is spot on: When included in a question, «vel» demonstrates which answer the speaker is hoping for, and in your example, the speaker is suggesting that the answer ought to be «no».
Other examples:
- Det er vel ikke sant? (That can’t be true, can it?/That isn’t true, is it?): Hoping for «no».
- Du kommer vel i morgen? (You’re coming tomorrow, aren’t you?/You’ll be here tomorrow, right?): Hoping for «yes».
- Han kommer vel ikke alene? (He’s not coming alone, is he?/He won’t be attending alone, will he?): Hoping for «no».
When used in a statement (as opposed to in a question), «vel» as an adverb can express some degree of uncertainty and/or hope:
- Det slutter vel snart å regne. (Presumably/hopefully, it will stop raining soon.)
First of all, "vel" means "well" only as an interjection, not as an adverb. Vel can usually be translated as "Right?" or "I guess", or to make a question less straight. For example:
Du kan vel ikke hjelpe meg litt? = "Can you help me for a second?" (literally: you can well not help me little?)
Det er vel det = Yeah, I guess (literally: It is well that)
Han skal vel ikke sove over? = He's not gonna sleep over, is he? (literally: He shall well not sleep over?)
For your other sentence, it's a really slangy sentence that means "Chinese is impossible to speak straight, you gotta have all that singing up and down."
No pause after — or emphasis on — "vel" when used as an adverb in a statement or question.
When used as an interjection, however, there may or may not be a pause after, or an emphasis on, the word "vel": in these cases you can think of "vel" as equivalent to the English interjection "well" in terms of emphasis/pause.
Ollie — yes, it is indeed true that "nok" is used to express your thoughts, rather than to ask a question. So in the examples used above, it doesn't really work to replace "vel" with "nok" as long as you keep the question mark at the end. Without the question mark, though, the first and third sentence both make complete sense, The second one would probably work in certain situations, too, I guess, but would be more frequently used with pronouns other than "du":
- Det er nok ikke sant. (That is probably not true. / I don't think that's true.)
- Hun kommer nok i morgen. (She'll probably be here tomorrow. / I suppose she'll be here tomorrow.)
- Han kommer nok ikke alene. (He'll probably not be arriving alone. / My guess is that he won't be arriving alone.)
Intresting question which i had stumbled on too. This makes me think of another interjection which is possibly related, "nok". If i take Cristine´s examples but replace vel with nok:
-Det er nok ikke sant?
-Du kommer nok i morgen?
-Han kommer nok ikke alene?
I think however this is more appropriately used to express your thoughts, ratter than to ask a question.
for example. Det er nok ikke sant. ( That is probably not true).
Can enyone comfirm if what i am thinking is correct or have i been using this word in the wrong way?
