Scandinavian language challenge day 23

Today I worked through chapter 7 of Swedish in three months, covering:

• present participle
• possessive pronoun: reflexive
• future tense
• conditional
• other words

Present participle

The present participle is formed by adding the suffix -ende (-nde for verbs with an infinitive ending in -a).

Used as an adjective or adverb, the present participle is indeclinable.
en fängslande film (a fascinating film)
en påfallande intelligent flicka (a remarkably intelligent girl)

Used as noun, the present participle is common gender if it relates to people (plural -) and neuter if it relates to things or abstracts (plural -n): en studerande (-, student); ett leende (-n, smile)

Some present participles are based on old forms of the infinitive:

Other constructions used in Swedish where English would use a form in -ing.

• When the -ing form in English ‘is an abbreviated clause’:
  Jag såg två pojkry som lekte i trädgården (I saw two boys (who were) playing in the garden.
  [Judging from the example, this seems to be talking about relative clauses.]
• When the -ing form is ‘used as a noun’:
  Att resa i Sverige är mycket dyrt (travelling in Sweden is very expensive).
  Han älskar att åka skidor (he loves skiing)
  Att ljuga är dumt (lying is stupid)
  [Judging from the examples, this is talking about phrases that are used as a noun and contain a present participle.]
• hålla på med (be working on):
  Jag håller på med en uppsats (i’m working on an essay)
• hålla på att (be in the process of):
  Hon håller på att läsa boken (se is (in the process of) reading the book)
• When two verbs are used together:
  Han satt och läste tidningen (he sat reading the paper)
  De stod och väntade på bussen (they stood waiting for the bus)

But Swedish does use the present participle when a second verb is used with komma, gå or bli:
Hon kom springende men han blev sittande
(she came running but he remained sitting)

Reflexive pronoun: reflexive

As in Danish and Norwegian, the pronoun sin / sitt / sina is used instead of hans / hennes / dess / deras if it refers back to the subject of the same clause. Examples:

• Hans skickade ett brev till hans hem.
  (He sent a letter to his (someone else’s) home.)
• Hans skickade ett brev till sit them.
  (He sent a letter to his own home)

Sin / sitt / sina could refer back to a subject that is singular or plural. In Danish, it can only refer back to a subject that is singular.

Future tense

Ways to refer to future action:

• present tense plus adverb / adverbial phrase.
  Vi reser till England imorgon.
  (We are travelling to England tomorrow.)
• komma att, for a forecast that has little to do with intention, particularly common if the subject is impersonal:
  Jag kommer att bli lycklig me aldrig rik
  I shall be happy but never rich)
  Det kommer att snöa imorgon (it will snow tomorrow)
• tänka + infinitive:
  Jag tänker köpa en ny bil imorgon
  (I intend to buy a new car tomorrow)
• ska + infinitive. Usually implies considerable degree of intention, much stronger than in English shall / will, but also used in impersonal constructions:
  Jeg ska gå på bio imorgon
  (I shall go to the cinema tomorrow.)
  det ska bli sköntt att se henne (It’ll be nice to see her)
  det ska bli fest imorgon (there’s to be a party tomorrow)

Conditional

The conditional is formed with skulle, the imperfect of skola:
Om jag var rik, skulle jag resa till Paris
(If I was rich, I would travel to Paris)

Occasionally, the old subjunctive form vore (= were) is used, as is also the case in English:
Om jag vore mycket rik, skulle jag resa till Bali
(If I were very rich, I would travel to Bali)

The conditonal may express politeness or uncertainty:

• Jag skulle volja ha en kppa kaffe (I should like a cup of coffee)
• Jag skulle inte tro honom (I shouldn’t believe him)

Some of the other words in this chapter

Nouns (like in English or German): far (fadern, fäder, father); en fest (-er, party); fru (Mrs); en man, män (man, husband); en konst (-ar, art); en kostym (-ar, lounge suit); en lektion (-er, lesson); et live (-, life); en ordförande (-, chairman); (en pappa -or, dad); et sommerlov (-, summer holiday); en tid (-ar, time); en torsdag (-ar, Tuesday); et träd (-, tree); trädgård (-ar, garden); en vecka (-or, week); möbel (möbler, piece of furniture);

Other nouns: en födselsedag (-ar, birthday); en lekkamrat (-er, playmate); en pojkvän (-ner, boyfriend)

Verbs (like in English or German): avskaffa (1, abolish); be (4, ber, bad, bett); ge (4 ger, gav, givit, give); kyssa (2, kiss); le (4, ler, log, lett, smile); lyssna på (1, listen to); låta (4, låter, lät, låtit, sound); längta till (1, long to go to); marschera (1, march); ringa till (2, phone); slå (4, slår, slog, slagit, hit); stå (4, står, stod, stått, stand); störa (2, disturb); sälja (4, säljer, sålde, sålde, sell); tänka (2, intend); överraska (1, surprise)

Other verbs: behöva (need); gråta (gråter, grät, gråtit, cry); hitta (1, find); hoppas (1, hope); plugga (1, swot); slut (1, stop); tycka (2, think)

Phrasal verbs: göra av med (spend); se (adjective) ut (look (adjective)); hålla (4, håller, höll, hållit, hold, keep); hålla med (någon) om (någet) (to agree with (someone) about something): Vi håller med dig om det (we agree with you about that); komma ihåg (4, kommer, kom, kommit) remember);

Bruka (class 1) means to be in the habit of:
de brukade läsa böcker på kväller men nu tittar de på TV
(they used to read books in the evening but now watch TV)

Adjectives: arg (angry); frisk (fresh, healthy); brottslig (criminal); deppad (depressed); interresserad av (interested in); nuvarande (present); otrolig (unbelievable); snobbig (snobbish); snål (miserly); utslutan;

Adjectives can be intensified using the slangy prefixes jätte- or ur-: jättestor (really big); urdum (utterly stupid).

Prepositions: om (about); utan (without); in i (into); i stället för (instead of); åt (for, as in köpa åt = buy for)

Other words: efter (after); förlåt (excuse me); hejsan (hi there!); jaså (I see, oh really?); ganska (quite, rather); inne (indoors, inside); någonsin (ever); någonting (something); precis (exactly); tyvärr (unfortunately); varandra (each other)

Other phrases: en släkting till dig (a relation of yours); en vän till honom (a friend of his); hon är sexton år (she is 16) / hon är sexton år gammal (she is 16 years old)

Some examples of usage of the particle ju:

• Du har ju aldrig träffat honom (Of course, you have never met him)
• Han har ju studerat svenska (after all, he has studied Swedish)
• Jag var ju ungre då (I was, of course, younger then)