Like Swedish, every language has some associations native speakers tend to ignore, that can seem pretty weird at first for language learners.
Let’s look at these two words: “grow” and “plant”. These two words, in English seem to have no relation to each other. But Swedes are crazy about nature. So naturally, some words get their name from nature.
Plants grow. People grow. Companies might grow.
But from a Swedish perspective, you could say that plants grow. And other things… do just like plants.
Växt = Plant
Växa = To grow
Some examples
Fikus är min favoritväxt = Ficus is my favourite plant
Vilka växter växer snabbt? = Which plants grow fast?
And also applied to other things that are not plants
Hur snabbt växer hår? = How fast does hair grow?
Min svenska ordförråd växer för varje dag = My Swedish vocabulary grows every day
If you are living in Sweden and have a kid, or if you are studying yourself, you already know this. But otherwise you might not, so here we go.
This week is what is known as sportlov or sportlovsveckan (in Stockholm, every region has their own)
Sport = Sport
Lov = Permission / Leave
Vecka = Week
This does not mean this is the only week when you have permission to do sports of course. It is a week when students have “lov” (leave AKA holidays), and the main argument behind it is to go do sports.
Not just any kinds of sports, winter sports of course! Sportlovsveckan should be by definition, the coldest week of the year. Which normally means that there is lots of snow all over the place. Making it troublesome to go to school. And the perfect opportunity to do some skiing, pulka, or whatever sport you enjoy.
The song is called “Ja, må du leva” (yes, may you live). You often replace the “du” for “han” (he), “hon” (she), or “hen” (gender neutral).
The song is about hoping that someone lives to 100 years… and then suggesting different ways of violently killing them. But then changing it to something more innocent that sounds similar. It’s a play on words. Nowadays, nobody sings the whole thing. For the most part, everyone just sings the first, child friendly, part. But we can take a deeper look into it just for fun.
Ja, må du leva! x2 (Yes, may you live!)
Ja, må du leva uti hundrade år! (Yes, may you live until you are 100 years old)
Javisst ska du leva! x3 (Of course you shall live!)
… uti hundrade år! (until you are 100 years old!)
Here is where it usually stops. And then the madness begins.
Och när du har levat x3 (And when you have lived)
… uti hundrade år! (until you are 100 years old!)
Ja, då ska du skjutas x3 (Yes, then you shall be shot/pushed)
… på en skottkärra fram! (… pushed on a wheelbarrow)
Most Swedes know up to here. So if they are feeling edgy, or drunk, they might continue up to here. But there are a lot more lyrics left.
Och när du har skjutits x3 (And when you have been shot/pushed)
… på en skottkärra fram (pushed on a wheelbarrow)
Ja, då ska du hängas x3 (Yes, you shall be hanged)
… på en häst bakåfram! (… on a horse backwards)
This one just has no recovery to the good side
Och när du har hängits x3 (And when you have been hanged)
… på en häst bakåfram! (… on a horse backwards)
Ja, då ska du dränkas x3 (Yes, then you shall be drowned)
… i en flaska champagne! (…in a bottle of champagne)
Och när du har drunknat x3 (And when you have drowned)
… i en flaska champagne! (…in a bottle of champagne)
Ja, ska du firas x3 (Yes, then you shall be celebrated)
Fettisdagen is finally here! But what is fettisdagen?
Fet = Fat
Tisdag = Tuesday
Fettisdagen can be translated to “The Fat Tuesday”
If you are living in Sweden you have probably seen images of Semla everyday in the past month in preparation for fettisdagen.
The semla is a Swedish pastry. The best part of the semla is the mandelmassa (a type of almond icing) which is not to be confused with marzipan. The semla is then topped with a mountain of grädde(cream).
The fettisdagen tradition started a long time ago as a preparation for the fasting that was to come the days after. Consume a lot of calories in advance to be able to withstand the fasting. That makes sense. But as many religious traditions in Sweden, they kept some parts (the fun ones) and some others were forgotten.
Fasting? Meh, who wants to do that?
An excuse for eating like a pig? Ja, tack! (Yes please!).
The Swedes know their snow (snö). So snow is not just snow. There are all kinds of snow.
Different qualities of snow can be used for different purposes. If you don’t know the difference, your snowman might collapse. Horrible, I know.
Or you might have an accident when you go “pulka” (butt-skiing)
A snow connoisseur knows at least these 4 types of snow.
Slask = The worst kind of snow. The wettest of them all. It can barely be called snow. It ends up as an ugly clump of gray **** on the street. You HAVE to hate it.
Blötsnö (wet snow) = Snow that falls when the temperature is over 0 celsius. Looks nice, but it is useless.
Kramsnö (hugging snow) = This one is perfect for snowmen and snowballs. You hear a crunch sound when you walk on it.
Pulversnö (powder snow) = Even dryer than the hugging one. Perfect for skiing and polka. ⛷
Övertala andövertyga are two words that are easy to confuse, because in many ways, they mean the same thing.
But there are some small details that give it another feel.
Övertala = Persuade
Övertyga = Convince
Still pretty close, right? Well, let’s take a close look at övertala.
Över = Over
Tala = Talk
You use övertala when you talk your way into something. You persuade someone of doing something that they initially didn’t want to. You go “over” them with your words.
Han vill inte ge rabatt. Men jag övertalade honom = He didn’t want to give me a discount. But I persuaded him
On the other hand övertyga has a more positive vibe. You don’t persuade someone to do something they don’t want to do. You make a point and convince them that it’s a good thing.
Vi övertygade dem att prenumerera på vår Youtube kanal = We convinced them to subscribe to our Youtube channel
And you can use it on yourself
Jag är övertygad om att det kommer att gå bra = I am convinced that it will go well
Another one of those very practical Swedish words is nyvaken
Ny= New
Vaken = Awake
Nyvaken can be translated to “newly awakened”. Specially useful during the winters. Nyvaken is this concept of having just woken up and being still a bit groggy.
It comes in very handy when you quickly want to give an excuse.
Kan du kast soporna? = Can you take out the trash?
Jag är nyvaken = I am newly awakened
Jag är nyvaken = I am newly awakened
Kan du diska? = Can you do the dishes?
Jag är fortfarande nyvaken = I am still newly awakened
Since it is Valentine’s day, here is a VERY IMPORTANT thing to know, so that you avoid this deadly mistake that can cost you your date.
When you think of kissing in Swedish, you have to be very careful with your pronunciation. Since there are two words that are dangerously similar.
Att kyssa = To kiss
Att kissa = To pee
So that “Y” pronunciation can totally derail your Valentines if you say it wrong. Or can make you agree to some weird stuff, if your hearing is not on point.
The trick to pronouncing the Swedish “Y” correctly is putting out your lips like you are trying to kiss someone. Or like you are doing a duckface.
Kram is how we say hug. But if you only go as far as hugging, then you are probably in the friend zone and not in the Alla hjärtans dag zone.
Puss= Kiss
Kyssa = To kiss (can be dangerous without the right pronunciation)
Puss is a word that looks a bit weird. But it is one of our words for kissing as well.
Jag vill ge dig en puss = I want to give you a kiss.
Puss and kyss are pretty much synonyms. They both mean kiss. But there is little difference there in tone.
You could talk about “puss” your mom or your date. But, I wouldn’t use kiss with family members. We keep that one for the romantic realm since it could (even though not always) involve some tongue action.
Hångla = To make out / Smooch / French kiss
Hångla is the Swedish word for making out. A make out session. Several kisses. Tongue included.
This word can be borderline vulgar. So I wouldn’t recommend trying it as a pickup line for a semi stranger.
Vill du hångla? = Do you want to make out? (This one will probably end badly)
De hånglade på festen = They made out during the party
It literally translates to “all hearts day”. Which is how we say Valentines day in Swedish
Nothing very strange happens in Sweden during this day. Besides everyone eating obnoxious amounts of gelehjärtan (those red jelly heart shaped sweets that are everywhere today and have been on sale for the past week in every supermarket in Sweden).
A really bad pickup line could be:
Har du några planer för alla hjärtans dag? = Do you have any plans for Valentines day?
Some countries define spring starting on a pretty much fixed day. In Sweden, spring is defined based on the weather.
According to SMHI, vår (spring) starts once there are 7 consecutive days of temperatures above 0 °C. Which means that it might be spring in some parts of Sweden and still winter in other parts
Nu är våren nu = the spring is here now
There is no “first day of spring” celebration as in other cultures since you only know it is spring after 7 days.
Some Swedish words have an antique feeling to them. One of those words is the word for “citizen”.
Medborgare = citizen
Med = with
Borg = castle
So a medborgare (citizen) is someone who is with the castle. Imagine the old days, when people lived in these huge castles, those that were more like a fortress than a fancy house. Almost like a huge gated community.
Here comes an unexpected word you probably wouldn’t have guessed what it means. And to be honest, I didn’t anticipate I’d someday be talking about it. The word in question is “hamstra”.
Yes, it sounds like hamster. A literal interpretation of “hamstra” could be to… do like the hamsters / to behave like a hamster.
You might already know that, in Swedish, we can add an A to the end of some words to make them into verbs.
Here is the real meaning of the word
Hamstra = to hoard / to stockpile
Hamstra is the Swedish word for hoarding or stockpiling. Like when you are scared for a pandemic and start hoarding and stockpiling toilet paper and pasta.
In the news.
Folk hamstrar toapapper = people are stockpiling toilet paper
Actually, to be fair, the word came first and these cute little animals got their name from the fact that they tend to hoard food.
If you live in Stockholm you have surely traveled in the subway / metro which the Swedes call tunnelbana.
Tunnel = tunnel
Bana = path / track
Quite literally “tracks in a tunnel” or “tunnel tracks”, which makes a lot more intuitive sense than “metro” I guess. That is way you sign those huge T signs where the subways are.
Jag åker tunnelbana varje dag = i take the subway every day
Here is a compilation of some useful words and phrases you might hear these days, with all the news about corona virus going around. Which are also useful for the regular flu.
If you are working in Sweden, then you need to know about karensdag, which usually comes into play once you get sick.
Under normal circumstances, if you get sick and don’t go to work you will lose some income. You will not receive any money for the first day you call in sick. This is called a karensdag.
After the karensdag, if you are still sick and not working, you normally receive 80% of your salary (up to a certain level of income)
This law has its pros and cons. One of them is that people might not want to take a sick day because they can’t really afford it, since they would be loosing 100% of the payment for the first day.
However in this coronavirus days, the Swedish government has decided to nullify the karensdag law. Since they want sick people to stay at home so that the disease doesn’t spread as much.
In the Swedish news:
Karensdagenslopasi två månader = the karensdag is abolished for two months
It is not very common in Sweden but from time to time you might meet someone that just won’t shut up. In English you might refer to a person like this as someone that is talkative. In Swedish we call them pratglada.
Prat = talk
Attprata = to talk
Glad = glad / happy
In essence a person that like to talk, that gets joy from talking.
Min granne är så pratglad = my neighbour is so talkative
Äldre människor är ofta pratglada = older people tend to be talkative
Klockrent is just one of those expressions that are very common among native Swedes. A bit of a slang one. It can be used in a large variety of contexts to say that something is “brilliant”, “dead on target”, “bang on” or just “very good”.
Klock = clock
Rent = clean
Originally used for sounds, “klockrent” would mean something like “clean as the sound of a clock”.
Hans sångröst är klockren = his singing voice is clean as a clock’s tune
Nowadays it is used in pretty much any situation.
Han är klockren = he is clean as a clock (he is great)
Träffen var klockren = the kick was perfect (talking about football)
Det är inte helt klockrent = that is not completely perfect
The word röst is an interesting one. Its first meaning is “voice”.
Jag har tappat min röst = I have lost my voice
Hon har en bra röst = she has a good voice (talking about singing)
In addition to that the word röst means “vote” as well. I think this makes a ton of sense. By voting you make your voice heard. So in a way your vote is your voice.
Att lägga ner sin röst = to lay down your vote (to obstain from voting)
Brevröst = letter vote (when you are abroad and vote via mail)
If you want to start sounding super sophisticated when you speak Swedish you can use phrases like this one.
Å ena sidan… = on the one side…
Å andra sidan… = on the other side…
These phrases are used when considering the pros and cons of something. In English it is quite common to say “hand” instead of “side” which does not really work in Swedish. “Andra” also means second. So “Å andra handen” would be quite confusing. It sounds like you are talking about something that is “secondhand” for some reason.
Å ena sidan vill jag äta godis idag = on the one hand I want to eat candies
Å andra sidan är det inte lördag = on the other hand it is not Saturday
It is kind of an old idiomatic expression which is still used today. That is way the “å” part might not make a lot of sense to you. Just know that it works in this expression and pretty much nowhere else.
Another thing that is very useful to know is how to say is “thing”.
There are two very common ways of saying “thing” in Swedish: sakandgrej.
Your mom might say:
Ta hand om dina saker! = take care of your things!
Nej, det är inte samma sak! = no, it’s not the same thing!
Other common phrases:
Vad är det här för grej?! = what is this thing?!
Jag ska berätta en grej för dig = I am going to tell you something
Det är en sak som… = it is a thing that…
This last phrase is especially useful when you are missing a word in your vocabulary. Don’t be frustrated when you fail to find the Swedish word for what you want to say. Instead of switching back to English you should try to explain it in Swedish.
