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Super Swedish grammar: The beef rule Posted by Stephen Maconi on Oct 7, 2015
Yes, Swedish has a rule known as the BIFF rule. This is spelt and pronounced in speech the same way as the word biff, which means “beef”, so I like to call it the “beef rule” in English. Fortunately enough, the language doesn’t regulate beef, however — the BIFF rule, in Swedish biff-regeln, has to…
Exciting Swedish dialects: Grammatical differences Posted by Stephen Maconi on Sep 29, 2015
Normally, learners of a second language like Swedish want to learn the standard version, which for Swedish as known as rikssvenska or standardsvenska. Yet, Sweden, being the long, vast country it is, has numerous dialects spoken in all the different parts of the country — some big, some small. So even if your goal is…
Exciting Swedish dialects: Vocabulary Posted by Stephen Maconi on Sep 18, 2015
Normally, learners of a second language like Swedish want to learn the standard version, which for Swedish as known as rikssvenska or standardsvenska. Yet, Sweden, being the long, vast country it is, has numerous dialects spoken in all the different parts of the country — some big, some small. So even if your goal is…
Exciting Swedish dialects: Pronunciation Posted by Stephen Maconi on Sep 8, 2015
Normally, learners of a second language like Swedish want to learn the standard version, which for Swedish as known as rikssvenska or standardsvenska. Yet, Sweden, being the long, vast country it is, has numerous dialects spoken in all the different parts of the country — some big, some small. So even if your goal is to…
“Where” in Swedish: var, vart and varifrån Posted by Stephen Maconi on Sep 3, 2015
In Swedish, there are three words for “where”. These are var, vart and varifrån. The differences between them aren’t too hard to master. They have to do with movement vs. non-movement, as well as direction. Var is the simplest of the three. It asks about a static location. For example: Var står bilen? – Where…
Swedish verbs: “vill” does not mean “will” Posted by Stephen Maconi on Aug 27, 2015
There’s a lot that Swedish and English have in common. There is plenty of similar vocabulary – dag means “day”, skyskrapa means “skyscraper” – and plenty of similar expressions as well. One word that is a false cognate – a faux ami – is the Swedish verb vilja. Its present form is vill, and it…
Pronouncing years in Swedish Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jun 11, 2015
We’ve all been there. You’re trying to learn a new language and you’re practicing reading. And then you come across a clump. A clump of numbers that refers to a year. And so the question appears: How do you even say that?! Well, lucky for you, we’ve got a Swedish year guide right here! So…