English Translation
Tom usually shows up on time.
Do these two sentences really mean the same? In other words, is “oftast” a good translation for “usually”?
Am I correct that “oftast” means “most of the time”?
Oftast is the superlative of ofta, so “most of the time”, or “most often”, would indeed be the closest translation. Usually is usually translated using brukar in Swedish: “Tom brukar dyka upp i tid.”
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Thank you, @morbrorper!
To me at least, there’s a significant difference, as “oftast” sounds a lot less reliable to me than “usually”.
Compare these:
- Most of the time, he’s on time. Sometimes he can’t be bothered though to leave his house early enough. Sometimes he feels like it, sometimes he doesn’t. But most of the time, he does. I guess we just have to hope he left his house early enough today.
- Usually, he’s on time. In other words, always, unless something truly exceptionally happened. Since he’s not on time, maybe something happened to him on his way here? Should we call him and ask if he’s okay?
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