Spooky Swedish Halloween vocabulary Posted by Stephen Maconi on Oct 9, 2015 in Culture, Swedish Language, Vocabulary
It’s finally Halloween season, and in many parts of the world, including Sweden, temperatures are sinking and the trees are all changing color. Children are playing in the newly fallen leaves and teenagers are planning their Halloween parties. Adults are working in their yards or enjoying a nice cup of tea or coffee.
Halloween isn’t a traditional holiday in Sweden, so there won’t be much trick-or-treating going on on the 31st. But as a result of the dominance of American popular culture, Halloween parties have become a relatively common phenomenon, especially among the younger generations. But even some companies are taking advantage of the fun of dressing up – for example Snälltåget, a train company whose servicepeople last Halloween were dressed as vampires.
For all the expats hanging out in Sweden and planning their Halloween celebrations, and for anyone else who wants to learn some Halloween vocabulary, this is the post for you!
| a bat – several bats | en fladdermus – flera fladdermöss (irregular) |
| a black cat – several black cats | en svart katt – flera svarta katter |
| a broom – several brooms | en kvast – flera kvastar |
| the candy (uncountable) | godiset |
| a piece of candy – several pieces of candy | en godis/en godisbit – flera godisar/godisbitar |
| a candy bag – several candy bags | en godispåse – flera godispåsar |
| a costume – several costumes | en dräkt – flera dräkter |
| a ghost – several ghosts | ett spöke – flera spöken |
| a haunted house – several haunted houses | ett spökhus – flera spökhus |
| a monster – several monsters | ett monster – flera monster |
| a mummy – several mummies | en mumie – flera mumier |
| a Halloween party – several Halloween parties | en halloweenfest – flera halloweenfester |
| a pumpkin – several pumpkins | en pumpa – flera pumpor |
| a scarecrow – several scarecrows | en fågelskrämma – flera fågelskrämmor |
| a skeleton – several skeletons | ett skelett – flera skelett |
| a spider – several spiders | en spindel – flera spindlar |
| a spiderweb – several spiderwebs | ett spindelnät – flera spindelnät |
| a tombstone – several tombstones | en gravsten – flera gravstenar |
| a vampire – several vampires | en vampyr – flera vampyrer |
| a witch – several witches | en häxa – flera häxor |
Happy Halloween, everyone!
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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:
Julia:
Dear Stephen,
thank you very much for this useful article. I really like your posts. It would be really helpful if you could write an article about useful phrases when shopping or does maybe such kind of article already exists? I already know some Swedish but always when I go to a shop and the seller asks me for help I don’t really understand what he is asking (I assume he is asking, if I need help) and I also don’t know how to answer if for example I don’t need any help. I then always end up with English which is quite frustrating:)
Thank you!