{"id":7104,"date":"2015-11-10T17:27:36","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T17:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=7104"},"modified":"2015-11-10T17:48:47","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T17:48:47","slug":"swedish-exclamations-using-vad-and-vilken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/swedish-exclamations-using-vad-and-vilken\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish exclamations using “vad” and “vilken”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image<\/a> by user ijm2000 at Pixabay. License: CC0 Public Domain<\/p><\/div>\n

Hey! It’s the fuzz! Run away! Careful, now! Cheers!<\/em><\/p>\n

All of those are examples of exclamations<\/em>, known this way because they are short phrases we exclaim. Some or all instances might be called interjections<\/em>, depending on whom you ask.<\/p>\n

In Swedish, as in many other languages, there are various types of interjections. The kind we’ll be going into today are those that are expressed with vad<\/em> or vilken<\/em>. Vad<\/em>, for those of you who may be unaware, normally means “what”. Similarly, vilken<\/em> means “which”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are also other ways to make exclamations, for example with the imperative form of a verb. For example, Spring!<\/em> means Run!<\/em> as an exclamation. When you make exclamations with vad<\/em> or vilken<\/em>, though, they are of the type “How rustic!” and “What a friendly dog!”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exclamations with\u00a0vad<\/em> and\u00a0vilken<\/em> are used to emphasize a certain quality in something, presented in the form of an adjective. But be careful – theses two are generally not interchangeable! So, then, vad<\/em> is the difference?<\/p>\n

Simply put, vad<\/strong><\/em> corresponds to English exclamations with “how”.<\/strong> Here’s an example conversation:<\/p>\n

Oskar:<\/span> Min mormor ska baka kakor till oss.<\/em>
\nMats:<\/span> Vad sn\u00e4llt!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Oskar:<\/span> My grandma is going to bake cookies for us.
\nMats:<\/span> How kind<\/strong>!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is the kind of exclamation you can make with vad<\/em>. Vad<\/em> is always<\/span> followed by an adjective when making exclamations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notice here that Mats uses the neuter form of the adjective<\/strong> (sn\u00e4llt<\/em> instead of\u00a0sn\u00e4ll<\/em>) because he is referring to the kind\u00a0act of Oskar’s grandma<\/span>.<\/strong> Mats’ reply can easily be adjusted to refer to the kindness of the woman herself<\/span> instead:<\/p>\n

Mats:<\/span> Vad sn\u00e4ll hon \u00e4r<\/span>!<\/em><\/strong> – How kind she is<\/span>!<\/em><\/p>\n

Notice here that sn\u00e4llt<\/em> is changed to sn\u00e4ll<\/em> in congruency with the human subject mormor<\/em>. This is a very common kind of exclamation in Swedish!<\/p>\n

Now, let’s move on to using vilken<\/em> to make exclamations. Exclamations with vilken<\/em> are always followed by a noun phrase.<\/strong> Here’s another reply Mats could have used, using vilken<\/em> instead of vad<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Mats:<\/span> Vilken<\/span> sn\u00e4ll mormor!<\/em><\/strong> – What a<\/span> kind grandma!<\/em><\/p>\n

The noun phrase is, of course\u00a0mormor<\/em> with the adjective\u00a0sn\u00e4ll<\/em> preceding it (sn\u00e4ll mormor<\/em>). Notice that both vilken <\/em>and sn\u00e4ll<\/em> are conjugated based on the grammatical gender of mormor<\/em> (common gender).<\/p>\n

As you can see, this is a slightly different kind of exclamation than the ones using\u00a0vad<\/em>. Even more different would be if you left out the adjective completely!<\/p>\n

Mats:<\/span> Vilken mormor<\/span>!<\/strong><\/em> – What a grandma<\/span>!<\/p>\n

(This is an exclamation I would use with my grandma if she knew Swedish. Just sayin’.)<\/p>\n

In short,<\/strong> you could say that vad<\/em> means “how” as it is used in exclamations: Vad h\u00e4ftigt!<\/em> “How cool!”. Contrarily, vilken<\/em> means “what a(n)” in exclamations: Vilket h\u00e4ftigt hus!<\/em> “What a cool house!”.<\/p>\n

Now, spring!<\/em> Exclaim your life to the fullest!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/sv\/mormor-pension%C3%A4rer-portr%C3%A4tt-gamla-499167\/\"

Hey! It’s the fuzz! Run away! Careful, now! Cheers! All of those are examples of exclamations, known this way because they are short phrases we exclaim. Some or all instances might be called interjections, depending on whom you ask. In Swedish, as in many other languages, there are various types of interjections. The kind we’ll…<\/p>\n

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