Monthly Archives: October 2014

Friendship is vänskap

Trying to live up to my own expectations of producing text without too much thought and careful scrutinization, here is one about the concept of friendship, “vänskap” in Swedish.

In Sweden, a friend is simply “en vän”, or more colloquially “en kompis” (“a buddy”).  If you want to specify the gender of a friend, you say “tjejkompis” (female) or “killkompis” (male).

Hon har mest killkompisar.
She mostly has male friends.

Jag tänkte gå ut och äta middag med några tjejkompisar på fredag.
I’m planning to go out and eat dinner together with some of my girlfriends on Friday.

In Swedish, a partner of someone is either a “pojkvän” (male) or “flickvän”, and “pojkvänner” and “flickvänner” are not words we use to signify people who are “just friends” with us.
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Hungry for more

Today I’m exemplifying different ways of expressing hunger and ways to say no when you’re offered something to eat. I’m also explaining the Swedish word “okynnesäta”, a combination of the words “okynne” (“mischief”) and äta (“eat”).

Jag börjar bli hungrig.
I’m starting to get hungry.

Lite mat skulle sitta fint.
A little food would be nice.

Är du redan hungrig?
Are you hungry already?

Hur hungriga är ni? Ska vi kanske bryta för lunch?
How hungry are you? Maybe we should break for lunch?

Jag är så hungrig att jag håller på att gå av.
(Literal translation) I’m so hungry I’m about to break/snap.
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