Swedish Language Blog

Moving to Sweden can be easy and it can be hard. One thing which is really different is the housing market. There are all sorts of strange and hard to understand names for things that there most likely is no equivalent for in your own language or country.

Here’s a list to help you along the way:

att hyra – to rent

att äga – to own

hyresrätt – rental apartment

bostadsrätt – owned apartment

villa – freestanding house

radhus – rowhouse

hyra – rent

månadsavgift – mortgage for apartment or house you own

förstahandskontrakt – first hand contract,  a rental apartment when you own the rights to a lease of the apartment you rent

andrahandskontrakt – Second hand contract when you rent from the person who owns the first hand contract.

att vräka – to evict

flyttstädning – the rigorous cleaning you are expected to do when you move

flyttlasset – load of furniture and belongings that are to be moved

hemförsäkring – home insurance which can also cover you when you are away from home…check with your

försäkringsbolag – insurance company

inflyttningsfest – homewarming party

inflyttningspresent – homewarming present

att gå husesyn – to take the tour together with the host of the new house

visning – open house, when you go look at a home to rent or buy

mäklare – realtor

bostadskö –  queue you have to sign up for to get the rights to a first hand contract. There are both private and public queues. The first day you enter Sweden you should get on one of these queues….many of them take up to 3 years to find a good home.

The Royal Palace in Stockholm. Photo taken by Nicho Södling from www.imagebank.sweden.se

The Swedish Royal Court recently announced that Princess Madeleine had broken up with her fiancé, Jonas Bergström, after weeks of media reports about a brief affair between the groom-to-be and a Norwegian handball star during a ski trip. Yes, handball. (We’ll explain that in another post:-))

It has been quite a few exciting years for these usually boring Swedish royals. Last year Princess Madeleine’s sister, Crown Princess Victoria, announced her engagement to Daniel, a man of the people. Shortly thereafter Princess Madeleine announced her engagement to Jonas. The King and Queen were said to be happy with Jonas (he came from the proper side of society) and disappointed in Daniel (he owned a chain of workout gyms and came from a normal background).

Many thought it a bit strange that Princess Madeleine and Jonas announced their engagement so soon after Crown Princess Victoria’s announcement. But that is old news. Oh the lives of the royals!

Now the drama continues with these crazy tails of passion, handball and skiing. Oh, and I forgot to mention, as an aside, Daniel, Crown Princess Victoria’s soon-to-be-prince, recently received a kidney transplant.

As for the younger sister, upon making the announcement of the split, Princess Madeleine left for New York City, where she so far has been able to avoid the cameras of the papparazi.

This is a pretty big deal in Sweden, or is it?

Let us know what you think. Do you read about the Swedish royals and are you interested in their affairs? Or do you think it is crazy for a country like Sweden to have royals and a royal family?

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