Swedish Idioms Posted by Tibor on Dec 20, 2010 in Swedish Language, Vocabulary
Guys note that the idioms are seldom direct translations. But of course there are common idioms in every language. If you have better suggestions for idioms in English language, please do not hesitate to share it with us.
- Jag anade ugglor i mossen när telefonen ringde tidigt på morgonen. Maria var tvungen att stanna hemma och kurera sig.
( I smelled a rat/there was something in the wind when the telephone was ringing early in the morning. Maria had to stay home and cure herself)
- Om du hävdar att Sydney är Australiens huvudstad så är du helt bakom flötet. Det stämmer inte. Sydney må vara den största staden men regeringen sitter i Canberra.
(If you are arguing that the capital of Australia is Sydney then you are completely ignorant. It´s not true. Sydney may be the largest city but the government is in Canberra.)
- Efter att de hade bott nästan i hela sitt liv i Göteborg startade Georg och Eivor på ny kula.
(After they had lived almost in their entire life in Gothenburg, Georg and Eivor had a fresh start in Dalarna.)
- Idag när jag kom hem från jobbet brann det i knutarna. Jag fick slänga ihop en snabb middag.
(Today, when I came home from work I was in a hurry. I had to cook a qucik dinner.)
Hon går inte på vilken restaurang som helst. Hon är lite fin i kanten, du vet.
(She doesn´t go to just any restaurant. She is a bit fastidious/oversensitive/stuck up, you know.)
Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.
Comments:
Minty:
1. Maria had to stay home and cure herself
would sound better as:
Maria had to stay home to get better.
2. Syndey may be the largest city but the federal government is in the capital, called Canberra.
Definitely not an easy one, that. You could also just take away ‘sitting’.
5. I think those words (fastidious/ oversensitive/ stuck-up) have very different meanings! I don’t know this expression in Swedish so I can’t say which one fits better…but I think stuck-up might be best. Did you mean ‘She doesn’t go to just any restaurant’? Meaning she is choosy? Or does it mean that she won’t go to any restaurants at all?
I hear some great expressions like these every day! But they’re so hard to remember. I think these are really good ones – I havn’t heard them before.
One I like is ‘Det lyser, men ingen är hemma.’
The lights are on, but no-ones home.
There are hundreds on wikipedia (svenska idiom) but they are not translated…so only for advanced learners 🙂
I also found this one ‘Det är ingen ko på isen, så länge rumpan är i land’ which I havn’t heard, but is funny. ‘Theres no cow on the ice, as long as your rump/butt is on land.’ It basically means your safe so long as part of you is still on land- ie. don’t worry! That one needed a bit of translation from my boyfriend, but I think ti was worth it 😛
Tibor:
HI Minty!
Thank you for this long input!
By the way: “Hjulet rullar men hamstern är död.” is another one on “Lyset or Ljuset är tänt men ingen är hemma”