Archive for 'Swedish Language'
How to express “unless” in Swedish Posted by Stephen Maconi on Apr 18, 2018
There is an infinite number of grammatical concepts in any language. Swedish is no exception. Although Swedish, in general, has a relatively simple grammatical structure compared to many other European languages (sorry English readers – it’s the truth!), there are still grammatical concepts that are relatively complicated – or so simple that they seem complicated…
Sounds in Swedish I. Posted by Tibor on Apr 16, 2018
This post is definitely for advanced learners, but of course it can be interested for anyone of you. This type of knowledge in a foreign language is required an C1 or higher level in a language. It is usually one of the hardest things to learn and use in a correct way, just like knowing…
The five senses in Swedish Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jan 15, 2018
Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. What are they in Swedish? The sight of Gamla Stan (the Old Town) in Stockholm on a Spring day. The sound of waves against rock in the Swedish archipelago. The scent of trees in the forests of Norrland. The taste of a delicious fish dinner on the squares of…
Expressions with animals Posted by Tibor on Dec 4, 2017
I won’t try to find an equivalent to all these in English language but I think many of these expressions are very close to the Swedish ones. Your homework will be to translate these because the list is long. Here is some help because my colleague already made a post like this earlier with idiomatic…
Swedish Power Verbs: att vilja Posted by Stephen Maconi on Nov 30, 2017
Some verbs are just more useful than others. Att vilja, Swedish for “to want (to)”, is no exception! Att vilja is the full infinitive form – in other words, it includes the basic infinitive form vilja, “want (to do something)”, and att, “to” as used before a verb. (More on this in a later post.) The verb is…
Being polite in Swedish, please Posted by Stephen Maconi on Oct 11, 2017
Being polite in your target language is often a huge challenge for learners. Swedish is definitely no exception! But is it the language itself or is it the culture that decides how we express politeness? The truth is that language is strongly colored by culture, but culture can even be seen as a product of…
The Nordic heritage of Minnesota Posted by Tibor on Jul 31, 2017
I guess this post will be a good continuation of my previous post that was about the Viking heritage of York in England. I am sitting in a kitchen in Hibbing, Minnesota right now and the weather is very hot about 29 C/84,2 F. The air stands still. Not so vikingish but let’s be honest it…