Comments to the weather sayings

Jag lovade ju...

I did promise, to give you some explanations to the expressions I posted last week. Here they are:

Det som göms i snö kommer fram i tö.

You can not hide anything for good. It'll come out eventually - like when the snow is melting (=tö) What's hidden in the snow comes out in the thaw.

Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder.

No bad weather, just bad clothes. This probably doesn't need much of an explanation.

Efter regn kommer solsken.

After rain comes sunshine. There is the same saying in English, or am I wrong?

Kläder efter väder

Clothes suitable for weather. A saying usually seen on letters from school before a school trip.

Spotta inte i motvind.

If things are against you, don't act badly. It'll only get back to you. Don't spit against the wind.

Solen lyser även på liten stuga.

Even people who don't have much in the material world, can have happiness and good times.

Även solen har sina fläckar.

Even the most popoluar and good people has their bad sides. The sun also has it's stains.

In intermediate lesson 6 the students were given some more sayings, this time about bodyparts: Like this one:

• Smaken är som baken: delad.

Swedes love talking about the weather!

And that's why the Intermediate lesson today, lesson number 5, is about the weather. We practice phrases, words, pronunciation and everything we need to know about this popular topic. Yes, we even learn how to complain about the weather:

Fy, ett sånt väder! (Not correctly spelled, but that's how we say it.)

We can see that weather is important to us Swedes by looking at popular sayings, some of them very often used:

• Det som göms i snö kommer fram i tö.
• Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder.
• Efter regn kommer solsken.
• Kläder efter väder
• Spotta inte i motvind.
• Solen lyser även på liten stuga.
• Även solen har sina fläckar.

Your assignment: Understand these sayings, not only word by word, but also the meaning behind it. A translation and interpreting help will come on this blog next week!

May I ask the Swedish teacher a question?

Of course! Teachers love questions! That is usually a very good sign of a thinking student.

We have maybe all been there: we have a question (or many) but we don't ask it because we are not comfortable in the classroom, we are worried the question is stupid or we simply don't want to be annoying. So here are some questions (including answers) that students have asked lately. Who knows, maybe you are sitting on the same! Could be worth scrolling through...

Do you conjugate Swedish verbs after person?

No. Unlike English, the Swedish verbs have the same form no matter the person: I am, you are, he is = Jag är, du är, han är.

Easy!

The conjugation group 3 of the Swedish verbs (the ones ending with a long vowel in imperative form (bo, må, sy...), do they always get double "d" in the form of the past tense?

Yes. Bo - bodde, må - mådde, sy - sydde

What is the Swedish word for the violin? I found 'fiol' and 'viol' written in the same book.

You can say both fiol (the most common) and violin (more formal and traditional) but never viol.


The word 'från' is pronounced as 'fran' rather than 'fron' Why is this? The letter å requires the lip rounding, doesn't it?

I'm not sure where you have heard this, but the word från is usually pronounced fron, although as a preposition not emphasized, so very unclear and fast. I wouldn't say that it's pronounced "fran" though.


What is the difference between åker and går?

We tend to use går = walk, what we do with our legs, and åker = go in some kind of transportation. The verb går can also be used in phrases where the way we are transported is less important: gå på bio, gå på restaurang, gå på teater...


Why is the last name Svensson (s sound) pronounced differently than Persson (sh sound)?

R + s (as in Persson) always gets an sh-sound.


If I say 'Jag är inte gift och jag har inte barn' Do I have to say 'inte' twice?

Yes, you have to repeat the sentence adverb (satsadverbial = inte).


Is this correct? 'Har du barn? Jag är gift men jag har inte barn'

Ja. You can, if you want, leave out the second subject (jag).


What is the difference if I say 'Pratar/talar du svenska?'

Not a big difference. Talar is a bit more formal.


I did not understand the difference between these two sentences from one of the videos:
Hur åker vi till Stockholm? / Hur ska vi åka till Stockholm?

Talking in future, we can use both present tense and with ska + infinitiv-verb. We use present tense especially when it is given that we talk in future, for example together with an adverb describing time: imorgon. To answer your question: there doesn't have to be a difference in meaning between these two sentences, although the first example could be for right now (in this very example not so common).
Feel free to ask more questions! You can do it through the comments here on the blog, on the facebook page on Twitter or by email. Swedish2go wants to help with your Swedish!

Simple Swedish! Yeah right...

Finally I'm blogging again, and finally about this (I said to myself and some others a week ago that I would put it up on this blog, but haven't gotten around to it until now):

Sense of humour is very cultural and individual. See if you have the Åsa-culture-sense of humour by watching this video about the Simple Swedish language (excuse the bad language once in a while):

Phu!

So has the new web page finally gone live. After long long nights, (oops I guess it's after midnight again!) the new, more functional web page is going.

The difference? It is hopefully easier to find your way around in, and easier to figure out how to do with what.

But if something is missing: please let me know. I have not thought of everything yet, and there are still things on the list of things to put up.

A web page is never done. So some feedback and input is always apreciated.

Tack och godnatt!

A new option to learn Swedish

Swedish2go is adding on. The add-on is for all of you who for some reason can't make the fixed time for the hourly live Swedish lessons currently offered weekly.  Starting October 15th, you have the option to take part of the beginner - or the intermediate lessons whenever you want.

How?

Through a subscription, you can get access to the recorded 1 hour lessons. With one new lesson per week to view, you can follow a Swedish language course that easily fits your schedule regardless of the time and place. The only difference is that it isn't live, so the possibility to ask questions right there and then won't be available.  However, you will still have the possibility to ask the teacher questions through facebook or email and you'll get a response as soon as possible.

In addition to the recorded hourly lessons you will get access to the related tutorial grammar videos from Swedish2go and also a guide to free online self study material for you to practice what the teacher has gone through.

For 8 weeks you will be fed with one new lesson per week. However you will keep having access to your recorded lessons for another 4 weeks after that.

For more information take a look through our website at: www.swedish2go.com

Svensk mat utomlands

Swedish food abroad

... more correctly: this text is more about the Swedish food that we don't find abroad - not in Canada anyway, where I presently spend some time. All cultures and countries have their different items, goodies, treats etc. Canada has a lot of them, that I miss when back in Sweden, but Canada is also missing out on a lot.

This one, for example:

Photo: Åsa Bouck

Kalles kaviar!

The picture is taken in Canada. I had my husband export it in the suitcase together with a block of ice from Sweden to Canada. Because the list of things I miss to eat over here is a lot longer now since Ikea took away all the genuine Swedish imports in  their food section and replaced everything with Ikea brand! The charm is gone. Ikea probably makes tons of money on the change, but I am disappointed.

What else can't be found here... Filmjölk! Leverpastej! Saltlaktris! Mjukost på tub! (Yes, they laugh at us Swedes here in Canada, thinking that we put any food into a tube. Well they can laugh! They just don't realise how convenient and smart that is.)

And even though some things can be found abroad, the selection of certain items are different between countries. I know that my kids miss the "forever-long" isle of sugary breakfast cereals in the stores when we go back to Sweden, but their health-conscious mom misses the variety of healthy cereals, because that is a bit harder to find in North America. I also miss the selection of bread and the selection of cheese.

What's the point of this little text? I'm not sure. Maybe to prepare people going to Sweden that there's a lot of good stuff over there, but also that you will for sure miss things that you can't find. See the positive things in each country (and bring with you what you can't find). That's why I am going out for lunch, eating an amazing hamburger after having a restaurant breakfast with American pancakes, eggs and bacon!

(Living in Sweden, but from a different country? What eatable things do you miss? Are you a Swede living somewhere else? What do you miss? Please share with me.)

   

 Photo: Magnus Skoglöf/imagebank.sweden.se    Photo: Miriam Preis/imagebank.sweden.se 

And don't forget to keep your eyes on the web site that shortly will have a new design: www.swedish2go.com