Learning a language can be difficult and early on (and even later on) there are some common mistakes that you’ll make again and again. That’s ok. But some of them can be easily remedied. Let’s take a look at three common Swedish mistakes.

Svart vs. svårt
One pesky letter. That’s all it takes sometimes to change the meaning of a word completely. In this case, we’re dealing with a letter that doesn’t even exist in English: –å. But that little circle over the -a (a ring diacritic, if you want to get super technical) changes “svart,” “black” to “svårt,” “difficult.” My trick? You can’t see the circle over the -a in the blackness. And remembering that circle over the -a can be difficult.

For example:
Det är svårt att läsa svarta bokstäver på en svart bakgrund. = It’s difficult to read black letters on a black background.

Gå vs. åka
Gå. It sounds so similar to go. It’s tricky like that. It also means “go.” Åka doesn’t sound at all like go, but it also means “go.” It’s no wonder this one gets confused so often. But here’s the trick:

Gå gets used to describe moving with your feet. As in walking. For example: Jag ska gå hem. = I’m going to go home (by foot). Or: I’m going to walk home.

Åka gets used to describe moving with help of something. As in traveling by car. For example: Jag ska åka hem. = I’m going to go home (by car/train/plane/etc.)

Be sure to check out an early episode of “Swedish with Steve” to get an even better understanding of gå versus åka.

Grattis vs. gratis

The Royal Guard wished the King of Sweden “Grattis,” not “gratis.” There’s nothing free about royalty. Photo credit Marcus Cederström.

Grattis, with two –ts means congratulations. It’s kind of like the English “congrats!” Grattis is often used as an interjection when something exciting happens.

For example, if your friend just won a million Swedish kronor, you might want to congratulate them (and get on their good side). So when they told you, you might respond with a simple “Grattis!” And if you’re excited about someone’s birthday: Grattis på födelsedagen. = Literally, congratulations on your birthday. Or: Happy birthday!

Gratis on the other hand, means free, as in you’re getting something for nothing. It’s used as an adjective or adverb. For example: Ingenting är gratis. = Nothing is free.

So what’s the best way to remember this? Since you can’t get anything for free, you won’t be getting a second –t for nothing. Congratulations. Now you can differentiate between grattis and gratis.

Good luck!