Swedish Language Blog

There are some phrases in foreign languages that are just good to know. Hello (hej), good bye (hej då) thanks (tack), where is the bathroom (var är toaletten), every other hippo is Swedish (varannan flodhäst är svensk), you know, the usual.

But within those useful terms are some things that can be tricky, like frequency terms and the word for every other, varannan. Depending on what we are talking about, that word will change. Let’s say that you call your mom every other day, so:
I call my mom every other day = Jag ringer min mamma varannan dag.

Let’s say though that you have poor cell phone service and only call your mom every other year.
I call my mom every other year = Jag ringer min mamma vartannat år.

So what happened? Varannan became vartannat. Just like so many other things in Swedish, en and ett dictate what form various words will take. So if we are using an ett word, ett år for example, we use vartannat. If we are using an en word, en dag for example, we use varannan.

The same thing happens if we want to describe something happening less frequently, maybe every seventh time for example. Maybe you eat candy every seventh day, on Saturday for example (lördagsgodis!).
I eat candy every seventh day. = Jag äter godis var sjunde dag.

Maybe you’re a stickler for good dental hygiene though and you only allow yourself to eat candy every seventh year.
I eat candy every seventh year. = Jag äter godis vart sjunde år.

Just like with varannan and vartannat, we get var and vart depending on whether the word is an en word (en dag) or an ett word (ett år).

You can do the same if you want to describe that every other car is black (varannan bil är svart). Or that every third house is red (vart tredje hus är rött). Pretty simple, right? The only slight exception to this is that if you want to say every day or every year or every car or every house, you use the word varje: varje dag, varje år, varje bil, varje hus. Below you’ll find a short list of some of the words you’ll need, a few examples, and a quick practice prompt. Good luck!

T.ex.:
Jag äter frukost varje dag.
Jag ser mina föräldrar varannan månad.
Jag åker till Sverige vart tredje år.

Now it’s your turn in the comments section: Skriv två saker du gör. Använd varje (eller var tredje eller var femte eller…).

**Some feedback from our readers reminded me that I forgot to include the word(s) var(t)enda, which means “every single.”**

Just around about this time of year, at least in the south of Sweden, talk of spring is one of the most popular conversation topics. This blogpost will equip you with good phrases for “vårprat” (spring talk).

Here comes a standard phrase which you can exchange the adjective for any number of synonyms.

“Visst är det _fint_ väder ute!” (“Isn’t it nice weather outside.”)

“Visst har det blivit varmt på sistone.” (“It’s been warm outside lately hasn’t it.”)

Replies:

“Ja, det är det verkligen” (“It sure has.”)

“Ja, eller hur” (“Yeah, it really has.”)

“Ja, det tycker jag _med/också/verkligen/absolut_.” (“Yeah I agree/think so too.”)

And if it should snow again after a warm spell these phrases can come in handy.

“Såg du att det snöade idag/igår igen?” (“Did you notice it snowed again today/yesterday?”)

Replies:

“Ja, jag tror knappt det är sant!” (This can be used for both good and bad things) (“Yes, I can’t believe it.”)

“Ja, usch vad _hemskt_!” (Yes, it’s quite awful.”)

“Ja, _hemskt_ är det!” (Yes, it’s quite awful.”)

“Jag hoppas snön smälter bort snart igen” (“I hope the snow melts again soon.”)

“Ja, det hoppas jag också”  (“I hope so too.”) Do you see a pattern forming here? The conversation goes very much by safe statements about the weather and the reply usually just being a repetition of what the first person said. You can use the exakt same phrase just exchanging the verb. Eg. from tycker to hoppas.

“Åh vad jag längtar till våren/sommaren” (“I’m really looking forward to summer now.”) Here we are talking about a specific summer/spring so we use a particle for that. While if you are talking about summer in general as a season then we don’t use the -en ending as in the following example.

“Vad _fint_ det ska bli med vår/sommar.” (“It will be so nice when summer comes.”)

Hopefully these phrases will help you to at least start up a conversation in Swedish. Lycka till!

Here is a short dialog which you can practice by yourself or with a partner. Believe me, pets or small children are very good audiences as well.

A “Nejmen hejsan”

B “Hej! Hur är läget?”

A “Bara bra tack. Själv?”

B “Med mig är det bara fint! Tack som frågar.”

A “Visst är det _fint_ väder ute!”

B “Ja, eller hur. Det är det verkligen.”

A “Jag längtar verkligen efter sommaren.”

B “Ja det gör jag också. Det ska bli så skönt med lite värme.”

A “Ja absolut!”

B “Vi får hoppas att sommaren kommer snart.”

A “Ja, det får vi verkligen.”

B “Måste gå nu men det var kul att ses!”

A “Ja, det var ju ett tag sedan. Ha det så bra.”

B “Ja, tack det samma!”

A “Hejdå!”

B “Hejsvejs!”

A “Why hello.”

B “Hi, how are you doing?”

A “Good, and you?”

B “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”

A “Isn’t it gorgeous weather outside.”

B “Yes, isn’t it!”

A “I’m really looking forward to the summertime.”

B “Me too. It will be nice with some heat.”

A “Yes definitively.”

B “We’ll just have to hope summer is around the corner.”

A “Yeah, that’s right.”

B “I have to go now, but great seeing you.”

A “Yeah, it’s been a while. Take care!”

B “Thanks. You too!”

A “Bye”

B “Bye”

You walk into your office one morning and one of your colleagues says, “Hey, look! We are wearing the same shirt at the same time!”. Daily office life is just remarkable, isn’t it?

In English, wearing the “same” shirt and wearing it at the “same” time as someone else are both expressed by the same word “same”. The Swedish cognate to “same” is samma. Observe:

Vi har samma tröja [på oss] i dag! – We have the same shirt [on] today!

However, when you say this sentence in Swedish, you’re actually claiming that there is a single shirt on both of you, as if you’re sharing it because you don’t have a separate one for each person. That’s the tricky thing about the word samma, so close to English but in many cases so incorrect!

In such cases as these, the Swedes use the word likadan, conjugated as likadant in neuter form and likadana in plural/definite form. Since there are actually two shirts involved (even though they look the same), you use the plural form of both likadan (likadana) and tröja (tröjor) as such:

Vi har likadana tröjor [på oss] idag! – We have the same shirt [on] today! (meaning two separate shirts that are alike)

(Note: It is becoming increasingly common in Sweden to use samma instead of likadan, despite its traditionally incorrect usage, so be prepared to hear it expressed so in speech.)

If you have the same shirt on at the “same” time, naturally you would use the word samma, since you are wearing them at one and only one time, not two times that are alike:

Vi har likadana tröjor på oss på samma gång! – We have the same shirt on at the same time!

A shorter and just-as-common way of saying “at the same time” is the word samtidigt. You may choose whichever you prefer.

There are also instances of another word meaning “the same”, which is really just the words det “the” and samma “same” shoved together, forming detsamma. This word is used most often as so:

Ha det så bra! – Have a good one!
Detsamma! – You, too! (The same to you!)

Detsamma also appears in certain expressions, most commonly in med detsamma, meaning “immediately”:

Kom hit med detsamma! – Come here immediately!

Questions about how to express “the same” in specific contexts? Feel free to comment, and I will try to answer everyone’s questions med detsamma!