Beginners Swedish Week 4

En flaska vatten = A bottle of water
En kam = A comb
En spegel = A mirror
En mobiltelefon = A mobile phone
En mp3-spelare = A mp3 player
En nyckel = A key
En ordbok = A dictionary
En penna = A pen
En tröja = A jersey
En väska = A suitcase
Ett läppglans = Lip gloss
Ett par skor = A pair of shoes
En bio = A cinema
Ett kvitto = A receipt
Ett torg = Square (town square)

Kan jag få...? = Can I get...?
Jag vill ha... = I will have...
Jag skulle vilja ha... = I would like to have...
Hur vill du betala? = How would you like to pay?
Hur mycket kostar den? = How much does it cost?

Beginners Swedish Week 3

Kulspetspenna = Ball point pen
Blyertspenna = Led pen (pencil)
Bläckpenna = Ink pen
En resväska = Traveling suitcase
En handväska = Handbag
En ruggsäck = Backpack bag
En spörtväska = Sportsbag
På stan = Around town
I stan = In town (center)
Suddgummi = Eraser
Skor = Shoes
Skör = Fragile
En tidtabell = Timetable
En linjal = Ruler
En miniräknare = Calculator
En Läsk = Soft drink/soda
Pengar = Money
En kofta = Cardigan
En necessär = Assesories bag/make-up bag
Ett par handskar = Gloves
Enkel biljett = One way ticket/single ticket
Tur och retur biljett = Return trip ticket
En bussbiljett = Bus ticket
En tågbiljett = Train ticket

Siffor
0 noll
1 en/ett
2 två
3 tre
4 fyra
5 fem
6 sex
7 sju
8 åtta
9 nio
10 tio
11 elva
12 tolv
13 tretton
14 fjorton
15 femton
16 sexton
17 sjutton
18 arton
19 nitton
20 tjugo
21 tjugoen
22 tjugotvå
30 trettio
40 fyrtio
50 femtio
60 sextio
70 sjuttio
80 åttio
90 nittio
100 hundra
1 000 ettusen
1 000 000 en miljon

Ett yrke = Professions

En kock = Chef
En servitör = Waiter/server
En lärare = Teacher
En tandläkare = Dentist
En advokat = Lawyer
En sjuksköterska = Nurse
En kassörska = Store assistant
En frisör = Hairdresser
En ingenjör = Engineer
En fotograf = Photographer
En brevbärare = Post man
En läkare = Doctor
En polis = Police
En busschaufför = Bus driver

Beginners Swedish Week 2

Verbs
The verbs below are in the following order:
Infinitive -> Present -> Imperfect -> Perfect

To talk = att prata -> pratar -> pratade -> pratat
To live = att bo -> bor -> bodde -> bott
To be = att vara -> är -> var -> varit
To exist = att finnas -> finns -> fanns -> funnits
To have = att ha -> har -> hade -> haft

95% of verbs end in -a in the infinitive form.
The infinitive marker is 'att', which corresponds to 'to' in English.
There are 2 basic groups of verbs - regular and irregular - most verbs are regular.
Most irregular verbs end in -ar in the present tense.

To make a verb negative we add the work 'inte' after it (jag kommer inte), but if the sentence contains 2 verbs we place 'inte' after the first verb (Jag kan inte komma).

To form a yes/no question we reverse the verb and the subject (kommer du?), but to form an open question we place a question word first (När kommer du?).

Nouns
The nouns below are in the following order:
a noun -> the noun -> nouns -> the nouns

Bus = en buss -> bussen -> bussar -> bussarna
Banana = en banan -> bananen -> bananer -> bananerna
Girl = en flicka -> flickan -> flickor -> flickorna
Child = ett barn -> barnet -> barn -> barnen
Apple = ett äpple -> äpplet -> äpplen -> äpplena

When you learn a noun, you need to find out what the indefinite article is for the noun and this too needs to be learnt. The indefinite article is either en or ett. Most nouns are en words and most en words have a plural form.

If an en word ends with 'a' the plural is -or, otherwise with a few exceptions the plural ends in -ar or -er.

Most ett words don't have a plural form, however if an ett word ends with a vowel the plural in -n.

ett yrke = professions
kanske = perhaps
trött = tired
pigg = awake
att hälsa på = to visit
att tycket = to know (opinion)
på tänker = to think
att tror = to believe
det här = this here
det här = that there

Gissa en gång till. = Guess one more time.
Jag är för ung. = I am too young.
Jag är kär i ... = I am inlove with ...
Jag ska hälsa på min mamma sen. = I will visit my mother soon.
Det var allt. = That is all.

Usefull phrases

Ursäkta. = Excuse me.
Hur säger man ... på svenska? = How do you say ... in Swedish?
Vad heter ... på svenska? = What is ... called in Swedish?
Vad betyder ...? = What does ... mean?
Hur uttalar man ...? = How do you pronounce ...?
Hur staver man ...? = How do you spell...?
Hur skriver man ...? = How do you write?
Kan du upprepa? = Could you repeat that?
Kan du sågå på engelska? = Could you say that in English?
Kan du prata saktare? = Could you speak more slowly?
Kan du hjälpa mig? = Can you help me?
Jag förstår inte. = I don't understand.
Jag vet inte. = I don't know.
Jag kan inte. = I can't do it.
En gång till tack. = One more time please.
Förlåt. = Sorry.
Tack. = Thank you.

Beginners Swedish Week 1

Hej
Jag heter....
Vad heter du?
i förnamn
i efternamn

Hello
My name is....
What is your name?
First name
Last name/Surname

Jag = I
Du = you (refering to one person)
Han = he (Killar/Pojkar = boys)
Hon = she (Tjejer/Flikor = girls)
Den/Det = it (en/ett depending on the gender of the words)
Ni = you (refering to a group)
Vi = we (everyone, including the speaker)
De = them/they (indirect)

EN minut = minute
EN timme = hour
EN dag = day
EN vecka = week
EN månad = month
ETT år = year

Lyssna = listen
Höra = hear
Prata = speak
Tala = talk
Läsa = read
Skriva = write
Träna = train (practice)
Fråga = question
Förstå = understand

ETT ord = word
EN ordbok = dictionary
EN sida = page
EN läxa = homework
EN rast = break/rest

Brand = fire
Mobil = mobile phone
Dator = computer
Kaffeautomat = coffee machine/vending machine

Och = and
Men = but
Inte = not
Samma = same
Hemma = at home

Hej då = good bye
Vi ses = we meet again/"see you soon"

Pronounciation:
When a word starts with "g", "k" and "sk" and thereafter followed by "a", "o", "u" or "å", these sounds should be pronounced hard.
However, if the same first letter is followed by "e", "i", "y", "ä" and "ö", these sounds should be pronounced softly.

Bra = good
Dålig = bad
Rätt = correct/right
Fel = mistake/wrong
Ja = yes
Nej = no
Lätt = easy
Svår = difficult
Viktig = important
Bara = only
Eller = or
Gillar = like to/enjoy
Motsatsen = opposites
Bor = live
Börja = start/begin
Sluta = end/finish
Pluggar = student
Läkare = doctor
Meningar = sentence
Prov = test

Swedish for beginners course

So this week I started my Swedish for Beginners course at the Folksuniversitet.

The goal of the course is be albe to understand and use simple words and phrases used in everyday life.

Areas that will be covered are:
Greetings and Introducing yourself
Simple questions about who you are and where you are from
Time, days and months and numbers
Colours, weather, cloths, asking for and giving directions, daily lifestyles, general conversations, describing things, emotions
Word order, nouns, verbs, pronouns and general language structure

A classroom is obviously the best option for learning and even if I share some of my notes from the classes it will never be able to substitute colleague interaction.

A little bit of humour to brighten your day!

The following is a very funny guy trying to copy Swedish phrases! Totally useless phrases, but worth watching!

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66fULfwb2X4

The mystery of "en" and "ett"

In Swedish nouns have two genders, common and neuter. These genders are signified by the indefinite articles: en and ett. The majority of nouns in Swedish are common gender, so they take the indefinite article en.

En is used with most of the nouns (words denoting people almost always use en), but you will just have to learn which article goes with which noun. The definite article (the) is not a separate word like in most other languages. It is simply a form of the indefinite article attached to the end of the noun.

En words:
Indefinite
en banan = a banana
en stol = a chair
en gata = a street

Definite
bananen = the banana
stolen = the chair
gaten = the street

Ett words:
Indefinite
ett bord = a table
ett kök = a kitchen
ett äpple = an apple

Definite
bordet = the table
köket = the kitchen
äpplet = the apple

This, that, these and those are expressed in Swedish by using den, det or de plus the word här (here) and där (there). The noun is always in the definite form after these demonstratives. And if any adjectives follow the demonstrative, they must add an -a to the ending.

En words:
this / these - den här biljetten = this ticket
that / those - den där biljetten = that ticket

Ett words:
this / these - det här tåget = this train
that / those - det där tåget = that train

Plural words:
this / these - de här biljetterna = these tickets
that / those - de där tågen = those trains

Alphabet and Pronounciation

In my previous post I and a list of some basic phrases, but now for the hard part... how are those phrases pronounced? Swedish pronounciation can be somewhat tricky.

Lets first look at the Swedish alphabet, which consists of 29 letters:
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz Åå Ää Öö

I am sure that you noticed there were some letters that are not in the English alphabet - Åå Ää Öö

These letters are pronounced as follows:
å when short as in hot, when long as in raw.
ä when before r as in man; otherwise as in get.
ö as in fur but without the r sound.

The rest of the letters are pronounced as follows:
Some the letters in the Swedish alphabet are pronounced roughly as they would be in English. The others are pronounced as follows:

A a is different depending on whether the quantity of the vowel is long or short. When long, the letter is pronounced approximately like the "a" in the English word "far". When short, the letter is pronounced approximately like the "a" in "thank you".

C c is usually pronounced as "s" before "e", "i", "y", "ä", and "ö", and otherwise pronounced as "k".

D d is pronounced almost as in English, except that the tongue should not be half-curled back.

E e is pronounced as in the English word "deck", even when long; that is, never like "e" in English "be" or "deep".

G g is pronounced hard, like English "g" before "a", "o", "u", and "å", and soft before "e", "i", "y", "ä", and "ö". After the sound "l" or "r" in the same syllable "g" is usually pronounced as "j" as well. In other cases, it is usually pronounced as "g".

I i is pronounced as English "e" in "be".

J j is pronounced as English "y" in "yawn". Never as "j" in "jaw".

K k is pronounced as a soft "ch" before "e", "i", "y", "ä", "ö", and otherwise as an English "k".

L l is pronounced as in English, except that when the sound is made (with the tip of the tongue touching the upper palate) the tongue should not be half-curled back, as in English, but straight.

O o is, depending on context, pronounced as either "oo" in English "too" (usually when the sound is long), or "o" in English "for" (usually when short).

Q q is a very rare letter in Swedish. The sound of "qu" or "qv" is equivalent to Swedish "kv".

R r is normally pronounced with a very slight quiver of the tongue; more distinct than is normal in English.

T t is pronounced almost as in English, except that the tongue should not be half-curled back.

U u in Swedish is pronounced in a way that is somewhat difficult to describe with reference to English. Closest is perhaps the "o" in English "two", "too" and "you".

W w is pronounced as "v".

Y y is pronounced almost as "y" in English names such as "Teddy", both when long and when short. It is never pronounced as the "y" in "reply".

Z z, it is usually pronounced as English "s".

You can also listen to the pronounciation at the link provided but bear in mind that the audio may sound a little distorted and this might make it hard for you to get the right impression of the sound.
http://swedishalphabet.tripod.com/alpha.swf

Some basic phrases

God morgon = Good Morning
Hej / Goddag = Hello / Good Day
God kväll = Good Evening
God natt = Good Night
Hej då / Adjö (more formal) = Goodbye
Var snäll = Please
Tack (så mycket) = Thank you (very much)
Ingen orsak / Var så god = Don't mention it / You're welcome
Ja / Nej = Yes / No
Herr / Fru / Fröken = Mister / Misses / Miss
Hur är det? / Hur har du det? = How are you?
Hur mår du? = How are you? (How are you feeling?)
Bra = Good / Fine
Inte så bra. = Not so good
Vad heter du? = What's your name?
Vad är ditt namn? = What's your name?
Jag heter... = I am called...
Mitt namn är... = My name is...
Trevligt att träffas! = Pleased to meet you!
Välkommen! = Welcome!
Varifrån kommer du? = Where are you from?
Jag kommer från... = I'm from...
Var bor du? = Where do you live?
Jag bor i... = I live in...
Hur gammal är du? = How old are you?
Jag är ___ år (gammal). = I am ____ years old.
Talar du svenska? = Do you speak Swedish?
Jag talar englska. = I speak English.
Ja, lite grann. = Yes, a little bit.
Nej, inte alls. = No, not at all.
Jag förstår [inte.] = I [don't] understand.
Jag vet [inte.] = I [don't] know.
Ursäkta / Förlåt = Excuse me / Pardon me
Ha det så bra! = Take care!
Vi ses senare / snart = See you later / soon
Hej / Hej då = Hi / Bye
Jag älskar dig. = I love you.
Jag saknar dig. = I miss you.

Welcome!

Hi all,

I recently moved to Sweden and to be able to face life here head on I will obviously need to learn the language!

The easiest way for me to do this is one step at a time with various online resources as well as additional lessons that I will be taking in the near future at the Folks Universitet (University of the People) in Gothenburg and then of coarse with the help of my Swedish speaking boyfriend and his family.

Join me and together we can learn this very interesting and somewhat advanced language. I will share what I get to learn and hopefully you will find it useful as well.

Enjoy!

Regards,
Janita