Learning vocabulary can be a challenge sometimes. But then there are those little moments when you hear the word, or maybe you just read it, and you get it. The smile creeps over your face, maybe you throw your arms up in the air like Rocky running up the stairs of the Philadelphia Art Museum. It’s a beautiful thing. Learning vocabulary, not Rocky.

But what happens when you see this: bl.a. or d.v.s. or m.m. or maybe even t.o.m.? Abbreviations. The bane of any language learner. I can hardly keep English abbreviations straight. Now there are Swedish ones floating around my head too. Awesome. Don’t worry. While there are a plenty of abbreviations to go around, there are a few that are just a bit more important than others. Below you’ll find a few of those common abbreviations, what they mean written out in Swedish, and an English translation. Good luck!

You might have heard strange rumors that everybody in Sweden drinks milk. Even adults. This is actually true. We have cow milk drinkers, soja milk drinkers, rice milk drinkers, oat milk drinkers and many more as well. Most students drink milk with their school lunches, and for the students who are lacto-intolerant there are special alternatives as well. The Swedish word for milk is MJÖLK, not to be confused with the Swedish word mjöl which means flour.

People grow up with milk, from the time they were toddlers they just keep on drinking it, even when they move away from home and have their own family. But not only is drinking milk a part of Swedish culture, the whole idea of cows and farmers is quite an important part of elementary school.

Many classes get taken on tours of cow farms, they get to make their own cheese and butter as well as learning about how the cow works. Fun facts about the members of the cow family as well as how cows have four stomachs.

Dairy companies have worked very hard to engage the Swedish population in milk. Lots of events are organized in the springtime when the cows get let out to graze. In Swedish that is called Kosläppet. Cow in Swedish is called ko and släppa ut means to let out. The dairy companies give out free glasses of milk and sometimes even free cinnamon buns. All through may these kosläpp take place.

It isn’t uncommon for the back of milk cartons to be very educative, with themes of everything from outer space to 3 signs that spring is coming. The following pictures are of some of the milk cartons this spring. Practice that Swedish!

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.”**