English Translation
He is unable to buy a car.
Does ‘oförmögen’ relate to financial matters only? What if I want to say ‘He is unable to run five miles’?
It relates to förmåga (ability), so you can say “Han är oförmögen att springa åtta kilometer”, although it sounds very formal; other possibilities are: “Han klarar inte av att springa”, “han är inte i stånd att springa” (formal).
Updated: you can also use the verb “förmå”: “Han förmår inte att springa”.
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Off-topic but maybe interesting, since Swedish and German both are Germanic languages:
The German language contains the word “Vermögen” and “Unvermögen”.
“Vermögen” is a noun that means “wealth”, but in its verb form—although it sounds very archaic—you can form sentences with the meaning of “having the ability” as in:
Er vermag es, zu tun, was andere nicht können.
Er vermochte es, zu tun, was andere nicht können.
Both German sentences say, “He was able to do what others couldn’t.” The first sentence is in the present tense, the second sentence in past tense.
The German word “Unvermögen” (“Vermögen” prefixed with “Un-” which similarly to Swedish “o-” often negates a meaning) means “incompetence” or “inability” though, rather than “wealth”, as in this example:
Sein Unvermögen sich für sein Verhalten zu entschuldigen war erstaunlich.
Meaning, “His incapacity to apologize for his behavior was astonishing.”
You can also form the German sentence:
Frodo vermochte es nicht, den Ring ins Feuer zu werfen.
Meaning, “Frodo wasn’t able to throw the ring into the fire.” In this example, the verb “etwas vermögen” from above is of course negated by the word “nicht” (English “not”), not by the prefix “Un-” to the noun “Vermögen”.
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I think I now know what causes my confusion: in Danish, we have the word ‘formue’, which means ‘wealth’, and it reminds me of Swedish ‘förmögenhet’, thus biasing me towards something financial!
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Just to be clear, förmögen does also mean wealthy, as in “Han är inte tillräckligt förmögen för att köpa en lyxbil.”
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There is a similar word in Danish, ‘formå’, which means ‘to be able to’.
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