Mentioning my newly started blog to some of my colleagues, and the discussion that followed, whetted my appetite for posting more.
Today I want to give some examples on how to express quantities in Swedish. I want to point out that the purpose of this blog is to provide examples of correct Swedish sentences and expressions, with – and sometimes without – translations and/or examples on contexts when the sentences/expressions would be appropriate.
Vissa tycker att det är okej, andra inte – Some people think it’s OK, others don’t
Jag kände igen några av låtarna på konserten, men de flesta var nya för mig – I recognized some of the songs at the concert, but most of them were new to me
Somliga går med trasiga skor – Some people walk in worn out (literally “broken”) shoes (a title of a famous song by singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk)
Hur många kom på festen? – How many showed up at (literally “came to”) the party?
En massa jobb försvinner när Scania lägger ner sin fabrik – A lot of jobs will disappear when Scania close down their plant.
NB: “En massa” means “många” (a lot of), but is mostly used in spoken language.
Bara för att någon har sagt att det är så betyder det inte att det nödvändigtvis är sant – Just because somebody said so, doesn’t make it true
Ingen vill jobba över en fredag – Nobody wants to do overtime on a Friday (“jobba över” or “jobba övertid” both work equally well)
Endast ett fåtal på mötet tyckte att förslaget var bra – Only a few [meeting participants] at the meeting thought the proposal was good.
NB: You can say “Endast ett fåtal mötesdeltagare” or, as above, leave out the word “mötesdeltagare”.
Hur mycket kommer du ihåg? – How much do you remember?
Lite mer vatten, tack! – A little more water, please!
Last but not least, my favorite when it comes to expressing quantities:
mycket lite – very little
litet mycket – quite a lot
Confusing? Even more so if you read this little conversation, taking place at the hot dog cart:
Cart operator: “Ketchup?”
Customer: “Mycket lite”
(The operator puts ketchup on the hot dog, too much according to the customer who feels the need to comment on this)
Customer: “Var inte det där lite mycket??“