Today I worked through chapter 5 of Swedish in three months, covering:
- asking and telling the time
- possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns
- past tense of strong verbs
- omitting the indefinite article
- relative pronouns
- other words and idioms
Asking and telling the time
Hur mycket är klockan? / Vad är klockan? What is the time?
Klockan är ett. / Det är ett. It is one o’clock.
- kvart i ett (quarter to one)
- kvart över ett (quarter past one)
- halv två (half past one: like German, not two)
- fem i halv två (25 past one)
- fem över halv två (25 to two)
- klockan ett och trettio (01.30)
- klockan tretton noll fem (13.05)
- kl. = klockan
- em. = eftermiddag (afternoon)
- fm = förmiddag (morning)
- för sent = too late
- för tidigt = too early
- senast = at the latest
- Det er ni framme i Stockholm arton och femtio (Then you are in Stockholm at 18.50.)
- en minut (-er, minute)
- redan (already)
Hur dags går tåget? När går tåget? When does the train leave?
Hur dags kommer jag fram? When do I arrive?
Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns
min / mitt / mina
din / ditt / dina
hans
hennes
dess
vår / vårt / våra
er / ert / era
deras
Possessive pronouns are identical to the possessive adjectives:
– ditt hus
– huset är ditt
After possessive adjectives, other adjectives are in the -a form:
min svenska bil / mitt svenska hus / mina svenska böcker
Adjectives are also in the -a form after a noun ending in the possessive -s
Jans svenska bil / pojkens svenska skidor
Past tense of some strong verbs
Infinitive
sprida
sjunka
skryta
brinna
fara
skära
Present
sprider
sjunker
skryter
brinner
far
skär
Past
spred
sjönk
skröt
brann
for
star
Supine
spridit
sjunkit
skrutit
brunnit
farit
skurit
The i is long in verbs of the sprida class, but short in verbs of the brinna class.
The supine is a form used in constructing the perfect tense. It is included here for reference, but isn’t covered in the book until chapter 6.
Other verbs like sprida (spread); skriva (write); bita (bite); skina (shine); tiga (be silent, German schweigen); riva (tear, German reiben?)
Other verbs like sjunka (sink): sjunga (sing); bjuda (offer); supa (drink); suga (suck); ljuga (tell a lie); njuta (enjoy); duga (be suitable, German taugen)
Other verbs like skryta (boast): frysa (freeze); flyga (fly); bryta (break)
Other verbs like brinna (burn): spring (run); finna (find); försvinna (disappear); vinna (win); hinna (manage, have time)
Other verbs like fara (travel): dra (drag, pull, past = drog); ta (take, past = tog)
Other verbs like skära (cut): svälta (starve); stjälja (steal, past = stal); bära (carry)
Omitting the indefinite article
The indefinite article is not included in simple statements of profession, nationality etc.
Han är engelsman / journalist / socialist / katolik / stockholmare
But the article is included if the noun is modified by an adjective:
Han är en välkänd journalist (well known)
The article is also not used when a singular noun is used generically:
Har du bil? Ja, Jag har bil.
Relative pronouns
The most common relative pronoun is som (who, which, that) for both singular and plural, subject and object. It may be left out in cases like those when its English equivalents are left out.
- Jag skrev till en flicka som bor i Lund.
- Här är boken som jag köpte. / Här är boken som jag köpte
som never follows a preposition; the preposition remains hanging, as in informal English:
- flickan som jag skrev till / flickan jag skrev till
The possessive form of the relative pronoun whose is vars (singular and plural) or vilkas (plural only). A following adjective is in the -a form:
- Där står mannen, vars stora hus brann net.
There stands the man whose big house burnt down.
In very formal written style, vilken (vilket, vlike) is sometimes uses as a relative pronoun. It may follow a preposition:
- Huset, till vilket de flyttade, var mycket gammalt.
The house to which they moved was very old. - But more naturally: Huset, som de flyttade till, var mycket gammalt.
The neuter form vilket (is also used to refer back to a whole statement, rather than a particular word. (Som cannot be used.)
Hon pratar för mycket, vilket är tröttsamt.
She talks too much, which is tiring.
Som can also be used in the following construction for emphasis:
Det är han som skriver romaner.
He is the one who writes novels.
Other words
Nouns: en fot (fötter, foot); bättringsväg (road to recovery)
Verbs: kommar fram till / vara framme i (arrive in); börjar (to start [eg film]; slutar (finish, eg work); hälsa på (visit);
Prepositions: till (until); från (from)
Det var synd. That’s a pity.
Det var snällt. That’s kind.
Other words: sjuk (sick); alltid (always); till salu (for sale); ja (yes, answering positive question); jo (yes, answering negative question); hemma (at home); i kväll (this evening); länge sedan (long ago)
Idioms
Hur har du het? (How are you?)
Jag hart det bra nuförtiden. (I am fine these days.)
Ulla har det svårt just nu. (Ulla is having a bad time just now.)
Ha det bra! (All the best)
Annan / annat / andra versus …till Examples:
- Jag vill ha en kopp till. (I’d like one more cup)
Jag vill ha en annan kopp (I want a different cup) - Kan du stanna en tag till? (Can you stay one more day?)
Kan du komma en annan dag? (Can you come on a different day?)