Archive for 'Swedish Language'
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…
Three Common Swedish Mistakes Posted by Marcus Cederström on Sep 25, 2015
Learning a language can be difficult and early on (and even later on) there are some common mistakes that you’ll make again and again. That’s ok. But some of them can be easily remedied. Let’s take a look at three common Swedish mistakes. Svart vs. svårt One pesky letter. That’s all it takes sometimes to…
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…
15 Swedish Color Words Posted by Marcus Cederström on Aug 31, 2015
I grew up in Colorado, where every fall the aspen change colors and the mountains explode in red and orange and yellow. It’s an impressive sight that doesn’t last long before the cold comes, the leaves fall, and everyone and everything waits for the snow. But when the air gets a little crisper, I’m always…
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…