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Swedish proverbs Posted by on Apr 29, 2010 in Swedish Language

New times call for new proverbs. I have collected some evergreen Swedish proverbs. You may recognize some of them or similar from your own language. Please do share it with everyone if you have some funny sayings.

 As we are used to it: Som man bäddar får man ligga. As you make your bad you will lie on it. 
 
Disorted: Den man ligger med får bädda. The one you sleep with shall make your bed.

As we are used to it: Den som spar, han har. The one who saves he´s got.
Disorted: Den som tar, han har. The one who takes he´s got. or Den som spar han har.. men inte roligt.  The one who saves has… but not fun.

As we are used to it: Det man inte vet har man inte ont av. What you don´t know won´t hurt.
Disported: Det man inte minns, har inte hänt. What you can´t remember, never happened. eller Det man inte vet, har man ingen aning om. What you don´t know, you have no idea about.

As we are used to it: Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig. Old love never gets rusty.
Disported: Gammal kärlek kostar alltid. Old love costs always.

As we are used to it:  Man måste kyssa många grodor innan man hittar sin prins. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.
Disported: Man måste kyssa många grodor innan man hittar sitt svin. You have to kiss many frogs before you find your swine (jerk).

As we are used to it:   Det var bättre förr. It was better before.
Disported: The future was better before.

As we are used to it:   Ju fler kockar desto sämre soppa. The more cooks the worse soup.
Disported: Ju fler kockar desto större fackförening. The more cooks the bigger union.

As we are used to it:  Älska din nästa såsom dig själv. Love your next one as you love yourself.
Disported: Älska din nästa, men var diskret. Love your next one but be discrete.

As we are used to it: I de lugnaste vatten simmar de fulaste fiskarna. In the calmest water swim the ugliest fishes. 
Disported: Även i de lugnaste vatten drunknar man. Even in the calmest water you can drown.

As we are used to it: Den som gräver en grop åt andra faller själv lätt i. The one who digs a hole for others falls easily in to it him/herself.
Disported: Den som gräver en grop åt andra jobbar som dödgrävare. The one who digs a hole for others works as a gravedigger.

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Comments:

  1. yudiarta:

    I am happy to visit your site, could add to science learning Swedish language

  2. Tibor:

    Hi there!

    Very good idea! We´ll do that. Thanks!