Snow in Swedish Posted by Stephen Maconi on Dec 7, 2011 in Uncategorized
After living in Sweden for a few winters, you’ll notice that a not-so-uncommon phenomenon is: snow! Well, chances are that if you know anything about Sweden at all, you at least know that it snows a lot here. Contrary to popular believe in certain parts of the world, it only snows here during the winter and early spring (and sometimes parts of the autumn in the north). But wherever you are in Sweden, the winter is generally relatively long and can be a bit tiresome.
When it does snow, the Swedish communes are generally very good about keeping their roads safe for busses and other modes of transportation. Also, school is very rarely canceled during a heavy snow storm (although your teachers may not expect everyone to show up in such a case). Sweden is a nation (or in this reference a chunk of land with people on it) that has survived around 14,000 winters, so every year the Swedes are well-prepared!
So, for you with interest in the Swedish language, here’s now you conjugate the common-gender noun snö:
| Swedish | Pronunciation | English equivalent |
| snö | [´snø:] | snow |
| snön | [´snœn:] | the snow |
(Notice that the ‘snö’ is pronounced with a long ö and ‘snön’ is pronounced with a short ö and long n.)
And here is a conjugation table for the verb ‘to snow’, att snöa. It works [almost] just like in English!:
| Swedish | Pronunciation | English equivalent |
| Det snöar. | [`snø:ˌar] | It is snowing. (Lit.: It snows.) |
| Det snöade. | [`snø:ˌadɛ] | It was snowing. (Lit.: It snowed.) |
| Det har snöat. | [`snø:ˌat] | It has been snowing. (Lit.: It has snowed.) |
| Det hade snöat. | [`snø:ˌat] | It had been snowing. (Lit.: It had snowed.) |
(Remember that the English present/past progressive forms are non-existent in Swedish and are expressed instead with the simple present/past, etc.)
Hope this was helpful! And to those of you in Sweden for the first time this winter, good luck! 😉
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About the Author: Stephen Maconi
Stephen Maconi has been writing for the Transparent Swedish Blog since 2010. Wielding a Bachelor's Degree in Swedish and Nordic Linguistics from Uppsala University in Sweden, Stephen is an expert on Swedish language and culture.
Comments:
MichiganLady:
Det snöade. Thanks! I’ve been trying to guess that conjugation the past few days. Det snöade mycket i Michigan förra vecka.
Kathi:
I am surprised that Swedish only has one word for snow, unlike other snowy cultures that have words that describe they type of snow. Regardless, snö gets the idea across, and right now outside my door det snöar!
Steve:
@Kathi Actually, Swedish has several words for snow, but snö works as a general term. Other terms for different types of snow include nysnö, snöby, kornsnö, and snöhagel (also called trindsnö).
Eva-Maria Rosengren:
Not to forget the fantastic word blötsnö which describes the mix of melting snow and new snow sometimes also mixed with the salty sand mix we use as a protection from slippery icy patches beneath the snow’s surface. Sometimes blötsnö is also mixed with rain and when it gets colder again it gets really icy.
Erik, native Swede:
The type of snow I think is the most important to know is “kramsnö”. Basically “hug snow”.
Isn’t that just great?!
Kramsnö is when the snow is really easy to squeeze together to create a snowball – maybe to have a “snowball war” – snöbollskrig!