Swedish Midsummer Dances Posted by Marcus Cederström on Jun 19, 2015
Every June, Swedes gather to celebrate Midsummer. Actually, they celebrate Midsummer Eve. It’s a time of singing and dancing and even a bit of drinking. That singing and dancing is quite the traditional part of a Midsummer celebration. As is the drinking, actually, but we’ll focus on the singing and dancing for now, just like…
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…
Talking about specific years in Swedish Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jun 5, 2015
In English, when you want to say that something happened during a specific year, you say, for example: IKEA was founded in 1943. In Swedish, you express this slightly differently; namely, you leave out the preposition “in”. The same sentences is said in Swedish as this: IKEA grundades 1943. In other words, it would be…
Important Swedish verbs: att bli, “to become” Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jun 1, 2015
Also known as bliva*, the Swedish verb bli is one of the most useful ones to know. It has several uses, but the main meaning is “to become”. (*Bliva is an older variant of the word that you might see in older texts or songs. Bli is the variant used in modern Swedish, so this…
Eurovision Sweden – 2016! Posted by Marcus Cederström on May 25, 2015
Eurovision is, quite possibly, the greatest musical event in the entire world. That’s actually a scientific truth and cannot be disputed. Unfortunately, only 200 million people around the world tuned in. That means there are still a whole lot of folks who missed the show. But don’t worry. Plenty of Swedes watched. Like 3.4 million…
Six Phrases for the Swedish Café Posted by Marcus Cederström on Apr 30, 2015
Last week we learned how to navigate our way through the ordering process at a café in Sweden. Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to practice. If not, take a look back at Ordering at a Café in Swedish. If you’ve already got that down, let’s take a look at a few extra phrases that will…
Ordering at a Café in Swedish Posted by Marcus Cederström on Apr 24, 2015
Anyone who has ever worked to learn another language knows the situation. You’re in a new country, let’s say, hypothetically, Sweden. You’re ready to partake in the Swedish fika tradition. You’re excited to test out your Swedish. But before heading in to the café, you want to make sure you’ve got it all right. So…