{"id":248,"date":"2009-08-16T23:54:46","date_gmt":"2009-08-17T03:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=248"},"modified":"2009-08-16T23:54:46","modified_gmt":"2009-08-17T03:54:46","slug":"what%e2%80%99s-the-deal-with-sjalv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/what%e2%80%99s-the-deal-with-sjalv\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the deal with sj\u00e4lv?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was talking to an American gal who teaches Swedish (in the US) the other day and there was one thing she said that just stopped me dead in my tracks. And that was <em>\u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lv<\/strong> is a reflexive pronoun.\u201d<\/em> What? Please don\u2019t tell me this is what teachers of Swedish in the US tell their students!<\/p>\n<p>While \u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>\u201d may indeed look like a reflexive pronoun, especially when it\u2019s translated into English, it most definitely is not. It\u2019s just a word used for emphasis that someone performed a certain action all by him\/herself. Unfortunately, because of this \u201chimself, herself, myself, etc\u201d bit, it frequently gets mistaken for a reflexive pronoun.<\/p>\n<p>So how does this \u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>\u201d work in Swedish? Like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jag kan g\u00f6ra det sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>. &#8211; I can do it myself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And now for a real reflexive pronoun:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jag har skurit mig<\/strong>. \u2013 I have cut myself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The first one simply emphasizes that I can do whatever it is that I\u2019m supposed to do all by myself, just like a big girl should.<\/p>\n<p>This example is a little bit different, but it also shows you what this \u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>\u201d is all about:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Han \u00e4lskar bara sig sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>. \u2013 He only loves himself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There you have both \u201c<strong>sig<\/strong>\u201d and \u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>\u201d and yes, I know it can be confusing, but it\u2019s really very logical, especially when you see \u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>\u201d as part of compound words.<\/p>\n<p>Actually, I think it\u2019s the easiest way to figure out what \u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>\u201d is all about &#8211; by seeing how it\u2019s translated when used in compound words, like these:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>sj\u00e4lvbetj\u00e4ning<\/strong> \u2013 self-service<\/li>\n<li><strong>sj\u00e4lvdisciplin<\/strong> \u2013 self-discipline<\/li>\n<li><strong>sj\u00e4lvkritik<\/strong> \u2013 self-criticism<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>and<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>sj\u00e4lvf\u00f6rtroende<\/strong> \u2013 self-confidence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Can you see the difference now between \u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>\u201d and a real reflexive pronoun?<\/p>\n<p>And oh yeah, I almost forgot. When talking about plural, then \u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lv<\/strong>\u201d becomes \u201c<strong>sj\u00e4lva<\/strong>\u201d, like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Studenterna sj\u00e4lva ordnade festen<\/strong>. \u2013 The students themselves arranged the party.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was talking to an American gal who teaches Swedish (in the US) the other day and there was one thing she said that just stopped me dead in my tracks. And that was \u201csj\u00e4lv is a reflexive pronoun.\u201d What? Please don\u2019t tell me this is what teachers of Swedish in the US tell their&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/what%e2%80%99s-the-deal-with-sjalv\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[364864,3405],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-grammar","tag-sjalv"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 5.0.0.1 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was talking to an American gal who teaches Swedish (in the US) the other day and there was one thing she said that just stopped me dead in my tracks. And that was \u201csj\u00e4lv is a reflexive pronoun.\u201d What? 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