Archive for 'Vocabulary'
Backman’s Latest: Anxious People Posted by Liz S on Jan 21, 2022
January is an ideal month for both bokmalar (bookworms) and sträcktittare (binge watchers), and if you identify as either, this post is for you! By now, you may have heard of the New York Times bestselling Swedish author Fredrik Backman. His debut novel, En man som heter Ove (A Man Called Ove), became an international…
Corona Bubble and Doomsday Scrolling – New Swedish Word List for 2021 Posted by Chelsea B on Dec 31, 2021
At the end of each year, Språkrådet and Språktidningen collaborate to release a Swedish nyordslista – new word list! These new entries to the Swedish language typically reflect social trends, movements, cultural phenomena, and disasters. Unfortunately, 2021’s nyordslista is a spitting image of the strange and stressful year we’ve endured – half of the words…
Expand and Explore with Swedish Word of the Day Posted by Chelsea B on Dec 17, 2021
“Work on your Swedish every day. Just thinking about your last class or current vocabulary list can help with your Swedish studies. Ask yourself, can I name all the clothing items I’m wearing? Can I describe all the activities I see while I’m out and about?” Your Swedish instructors are probably constantly suggesting study tips…
5 Irregular Swedish Verbs You Need to Master Posted by Chelsea B on Nov 19, 2021
A student recently reminded me how difficult it is to memorize irregular verbs in your foreign language. Well actually, she said, “Swedish irregular verbs are the worst.” Att vara, att se, att göra, to name a few, are among the most common words used in daily Swedish. Just as language learning is a balance of…
New Science Backs Viking Debut in North America Posted by Chelsea B on Oct 29, 2021
Just when the Vikings start to fall out of fashion, they do it again. Scientists utilized a new dating technique to reinforce that not only were the Vikings the first Europeans to reach the North American continent, we now have an exact year. In 1021, centuries before Columbus even thought of crossing the Atlantic, the…
Into the Woods: Swedish Tree Vocabulary Posted by Chelsea B on Oct 22, 2021
Trees deserve all the credit. They provide us with clean air, the material to wood to build and heat our homes, so why don’t we know their names? Seems like the least we could do. To keep the skog momentum going from last week’s mushrooming post, I thought we should spend some time catching up…
Refresh your Swedish Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns Posted by Chelsea B on Sep 10, 2021
To understand reflexive verbs, start by thinking about activities where the action reflects back on its subject. For example, “I’ll behave myself.” “He’ll shave himself,” and so on. In Swedish we pair even more verbs with a reflexive pronoun – the verb “to learn” is reflexive, “to concentrate” is reflexive, too! In this post, we’ll…