{"id":6294,"date":"2013-04-19T11:54:08","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T11:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=6294"},"modified":"2013-04-19T11:56:54","modified_gmt":"2013-04-19T11:56:54","slug":"the-many-uses-of-the-preposition-av","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/the-many-uses-of-the-preposition-av\/","title":{"rendered":"The many uses of the preposition “av”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of our readers have requested a post about the Swedish preposition av<\/em>, so here it is! The word has many uses, among them what is expressed by English “of”. This is, however, far from always the case, and “of” can also be expressed by other Swedish prepositions, depending on what the speaker means to convey.<\/p>\n

1) describing what something is made of<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Bordet \u00e4r gjort av<\/span> tr\u00e4.<\/em> – The table is made of<\/span> wood.
\nKniven var gjord av<\/span> rostfritt st\u00e5l.<\/em> – The knife was made of stainless steel.<\/p>\n

2) inclusion in a group
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ig\u00e5r var jag hemma hos en av<\/span> mina klasskamrater.<\/em> – Yesterday I was at the home of one of<\/span> my classmates.
\nD\u00e4r stod tv\u00e5 av<\/span> de tre ekorrar vi hade sett dagen innan.<\/em> – There stood two of<\/span> the three squirrels we had seen the day before.<\/p>\n

3) marking the agent in a passive clause<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jag blev precis anfallen av<\/span> en bl\u00e4ckfisk.<\/em> – I was just attacked by<\/span> a squid.<\/p>\n

4) marking the cause or source of something<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Hon dansade av<\/span> ren gl\u00e4dje.<\/em> – She danced out of<\/span> pure happiness.
\nJag fick pennan av<\/span> Sigvard.<\/em> – I got the pen from<\/span> Sigvard. (Here, you can also use the preposition fr\u00e5n<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Av<\/em> as a preposition is never emphasized when pronounced. When it is used as a verb particle or adjective, though, it is emphasized:<\/p>\n

Barnen sparkade av<\/span> st\u00f6vlarna n\u00e4r de kom hem.<\/em> – The children kicked off<\/span> their boots when they got home.
\nSt\u00e4ng av<\/span> kranen!<\/em> – Turn off<\/span> the tap\/faucet!
\n\u00c4r tv:n av<\/span> nu?<\/em> – Is the TV off<\/span> now?<\/p>\n

Av<\/em> can also appear as a lexical (and therefore emphasized) prefix:<\/p>\n

Jag har f\u00e5tt avslag<\/span> p\u00e5 min ans\u00f6kan.<\/em> – My application was denied<\/span>. (Lit:<\/em> “I have received denial<\/span> (noun) on my application.”)
\nAnnika ska av<\/span>installera programmet \u00e5t mig.<\/em> – Annika is going to un<\/span>install the program for me.<\/p>\n

Hope this guide was helpful. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source for some of the information in this post: Wiktionary<\/a> (all borrowed examples proofread).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of our readers have requested a post about the Swedish preposition av, so here it is! The word has many uses, among them what is expressed by English “of”. This is, however, far from always the case, and “of” can also be expressed by other Swedish prepositions, depending on what the speaker means to…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6294","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","category-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t