Tag Archives: teach yourself swedish

Sexy in Swedish – 44 romantic Swedish phrases

Posted on by
1

All I want for Christmas is you!

When you are learning Swedish, chances are that the course books include everyday language that is very helpful for getting by in Sweden in general. However, you will probably not find intimate and sexy phrases in these types of books.

It can be difficult to chat up Swedes, as we can be a little more reserved to strangers than some other nationalities. However, according to statistics Swedes can be very flirty too, especially on dating apps.

Here are 44 phrases that you can use when getting to know someone, either face-to-face or via a dating app. So let’s get festive and romantic with some useful Swedish phrases for these situations!

The first steps

Are you dating anyone at the moment?

Dejtar du någon just nu?

Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Har du pojkvän/flickvän?

Do you want to dance?

Vill du dansa?

Do you want anything to drink?

Vill du ha något att dricka?

I would like to get to know you better.

Jag skulle vilja lära känna dig bättre.

Do you want to meet again? Maybe we can meet again?

Vill du ses igen? Vi kanske kan ses igen?

Can I get your phone number?

Kan jag få ditt telefonnummer?

Asking someone out

Now that you’ve taken the first step and got acquainted, it’s time to ask them out.

Do you want to meet tonight/tomorrow/this weekend/next week?

Vill du ses ikväll/imorgon/i helgen/nästa vecka?

What would you like to do?

Vad skulle du vilja göra?

How about…?

Vad sägs om…?

We could maybe go for a coffee?

Vi kanske kan ta en fika?

Where do you want to meet?

Var vill du ses?

What time?

Vilken tid?

I’ll get in touch/I’ll call you.

Jag hör av mig.

Stay in touch/call me.

Hör av dig.

Compliments in Swedish

Giving compliments in Swedish can be a bit tricky. Swedes are not great at giving compliments, and many Swedes dislike crude comments about someone’s body.

So stay away from comments like ‘You have a sexy ass’. Giving criticism after a compliment should also be avoided (ex: ‘I love your hair, but you should wear it down more often’). Instead, use some of these phrases…

You look nice.

Vad fin du är.

You are funny.

Du är rolig.

I love your laughter/smile.

Jag älskar ditt skratt/leende.

You have such beautiful eyes.

Du har så vackra ögon.

You’re smart.

Du är smart.

I like your way of thinking.

Jag gillar ditt sätt att tänka.

I like hanging out with/talking to you, you inspire me.

Jag gillar att hänga/prata med dig, du inspirerar mig.

Getting closer

If you have been successful with the previous phrases, the following phrases may come in handy.

May I kiss you?

Får jag kyssa dig?

I (don’t) want to.

Jag vill (inte).

Hold me.

Håll om mig.

Kiss me.

Kyss mig.

I want you.

Jag vill ha dig.

You feel so nice.

Du är så skön.

You are so sexy.

Du är så sexig.

Do you like this?

Gillar du det här?

Don’t stop!

Sluta inte.

Slower.

Långsammare.

Faster.

Snabbare.

That was totally amazing.

Det var helt underbart.

Saying goodbye

After all that passion, unfortunately it’s time to say goodbye.

It’s late.

Det är sent.

I should go home.

Jag borde gå hem.

I’ll call you.

Jag ringer dig.

I don’t want to go.

Jag vill inte gå.

See you tomorrow.

Vi ses imorgon.

Thanks for this evening.

Tack för ikväll.

Goodbye.

Hejdå.

Goodnight.

Godnatt.

I’ll miss you.

Jag kommer att sakna dig.
Make sure to practice these, perhaps make them into flashcards to memorize them. Have fun with them, and good luck!

 

Time prepositions: i, på and om

Posted on by
Reply

Are you unsure of when to use the time prepositions i, på, and om when describing when, for how long or how often something happens? You are not alone. In this week’s blog post, we’ll dive into the murky waters of time prepositions, and look at the categories of Point in Time, Time Duration and Frequency, as they will dictate when you use i, på and om.

När? When? (point in time)

When you want to say something about when something will happen or happened, you want to refer to a Point in Time. And you have two options. Either you want to talk about something will happen in the future, or you want to talk about something that happened in the past.

FUTURE – om

Unless you want to give the exact date or time (which is of course fine too!), you can use the preposition om, and then add the time between now and the event that you are talking about. For example:

om ett år – in a year’s time

om en vecka – in a week’s time

om 5 minuter – in 5 minutes’ time

PAST – för … sedan

If the event happened in the past, you can use för + time + sedan. This basically means ago. Notice that we do not have one word for ago, we have two! One that comes before the time and one that comes after. For example:

för ett år sedan – a year ago

för en vecka sedan – a week ago

för 5 minuter sedan – 5 minutes ago

 

Hur länge? (For) how long? (duration of time)

If you want to talk about how long something has been happening, you will be referring to Duration of Time. Here you also have two options, but they are more to do with positive and negative. If something has been going on, or will be going on (in this sense, positive) for a duration of time, use i. For example:

Jag har studerat svenska i 2 år – I have studied Swedish for 2 years

Jag ska vara i Grekland i 2 veckor – I will be in Greece for 2 weeks

If something has NOT been happening for a period of time, or will NOT happen for a period of time, use på. For example:

Jag har inte gått på gymmet på 2 veckor – I have not been to the gym for 2 weeks

Jag ska inte ha semester på 2 månader – I won’t have a holiday for 2 months

 

Hur ofta? How often? (frequency)

If you want to express how often something happens, or has happened, you are in the area of Frequency. Here, you need to use either i or om. This will be determined by the word that you use. Here are the rules:

If it is dagen, dygnet, or året, use om: 

en gång om dagen – once a day

en gång om dygnet – once every 24 hours

en gång om året – once every year

If you want to up the frequency, just change en gång to två gånger (twice), tre gånger (three times), fyra gånger (four times), and so on.

If it is sekunden, minuten, timmen, veckan, månaden or kvartalet, use i:

en gång i sekunden – once every second

en gång i minuten – once every minute

en gång i timmen – once an hour

en gång i månaden – once a month

en gång i kvartalet – once every 3 months

Same thing here, if you want to up the frequency, just change en gång to två gånger (twice), tre gånger (three times), fyra gånger (four times), and so on.

Also notice that the time unit takes definite form: dagen, månaden, året, and so on.

 

Practice

Now that you know the difference between Point in Time, Duration and Frequency, could you fill in the right preposition into these six sentences? (the question is given in brackets before the sentence)

1 (När?) Johan ska åka till Grekland _______ två veckor.

2 (När?) Lisa var i New York _______ tre månader ________.

3 (Hur länge?) Sarah har studerat svenska _______ 3 år.

4 (Hur länge?) Jag har inte träffat min kusin ______ 5 år.

5 (Hur ofta?) Scott brukar åka på semester två gånger ______ året.

6 (Hur ofta?) Paul tränar på gymmet fyra gånger ______ veckan.

 

Lycka till!

Anneli

Learn Swedish study group on Facebook

Posted on by
Reply

HEJ! 

We are very excited about our new study group – Learn Swedish with Swedish Made Easy – that we launched last weekend on Facebook.

This is a community study group for those you are studying Swedish with Swedish Made Easy, or those interested in studying with us. In this group, you can find some company, inspiration, help and motivation! I (Anneli) and Daniel are both there to help, and you can also connect with other people around the world who are also studying Swedish.

Studying via Skype/on your own can be a bit lonely sometimes, so in this group we can share recommendations, tips, tricks and ideas with each other.

Hope to see you there!

/Anneli

10 days until Teach Yourself Complete Swedish

Posted on by
Reply

New version of Teach Yourself Complete Swedish (Hodder & Stoughton) publishes 8 March 2018

  • Dr Anneli Beronius Haake from Swedish Made Easy is the author of the new book
  • The book includes 20 units with online audio support, plus verb reference and word glossary, with relevant and up-to-date topics, including politics, education, gender equality and popular entertainment in Sweden.

A perhaps unexpected trend in recent years is the rising popularity of Swedish in the world. It is unexpected because Swedish is not traditionally one of the more popular languages in the world, as it is typically ranked around the 90th most spoken languages in the world. But according to British Council, Swedish is in the top 10 languages in demand for export markets, along with much larger languages like French, Spanish, Dutch and German.

So why is Swedish becoming more popular? There are several theories for this rise. One is the rise of Scandinavian culture in general on an international scale, with books, TV-series and movies, many of them falling into the category known as Nordic Noir. Also, one in six Swedish residents in 2015 were born outside of Sweden (Statistics Sweden SCB), meaning that many Swedish residents are in full swing of learning the language.

On the 8th of March, the International Women’s Day, Dr Anneli Beronius Haake, director of the e-learning school Swedish Made Easy, publishes a new version of Teach Yourself Complete Swedish (Hodder & Stoughton). “What is particularly useful about this book”, she explains, “is that the platform language is English. Many Swedish course books made in Sweden are all in Swedish, which means that learners need a teacher to help explain the grammar at beginner’s level. This book, on the other hand, has all the grammar points explained in English.”

The book uses authentic conversations, vocabulary building, grammar explanations, online audio support, and extensive practice and review to equip learners with the skills they need to use Swedish in a variety of settings and situations, developing their cultural awareness along the way. The book follows several characters through a storyline enabling learners to engage with Swedish culture and contextualise their learning. The book suits the self-study learner, lessons with a one-to-one tutor, or the beginner classroom. It can be used as a refresher course as well as to support study for the ‘Swedex’ Swedish proficiency test.

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

  • Sources

 

Haake, A. B. (2018). Teach Yourself Complete Swedish (Hodder & Stoughton) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Swedish-Beginner-Intermediate-Course/dp/1444195107/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1517488103&sr=8-3&keywords=teach+yourself+swedish ISBN-10: 1444195107   ISBN-13: 978-1444195101

Mikael Parkvall, “Världens 100 största språk 2007” (The World’s 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin.

https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/languages_for_the_future_2017.pdf

http://www.scb.se/sv_/Hitta-statistik/Artiklar/Finland-och-Irak-de-tva-vanligaste-fodelselanderna-bland-utrikes-fodda/

 

  • About Swedish Made Easy and Dr Anneli Beronius Haake

Swedish Made Easy was founded by Anneli Beronius Haake in 2005. It is an e-learning and Skype-based language school, which specialises in the teaching and assessment of Swedish language skills, including SWEDEX levels A2-B2. Swedish Made Easy believes in using modern technology to share the Swedish language and culture across the globe.

Dr Anneli Haake is a native Swedish language and culture specialist and translator. Anneli was awarded a BA (Hons) at University of Stockholm in 2003 before transferring to the UK to complete her PhD and a PCHE (Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education) at University of Sheffield, UK. Anneli has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the BBC and The Guardian. Anneli has experience of teaching students from a broad range of nationalities and has worked with organisations such as Örebro University, Lund University, Jönköping University, as well as large multi-nationals including Abercrombie & Fitch, E-ON and Spotify and various language agencies.

30 days until launch of Complete Swedish

Posted on by
Reply

In 30 days time, the brand new version of Teach Yourself Complete Swedish that I have been writing the past few years will finally be published (yay!).

Do you want to develop a solid understanding of Swedish and communicate confidently with others?
Through authentic conversations, vocabulary building, grammar explanations and extensive practice and review, Complete Swedish will equip you with the skills you need to use Swedish in a variety of settings and situations, developing your cultural awareness along the way. The book follows several characters through a storyline enabling learners to engage with Swedish culture and contextualise their learning.

What will I achieve by the end of the course?
By the end of Complete Swedish you will have a solid intermediate-level grounding in the four key skills – reading, writing, speaking and listening – and be able to communicate with confidence and accuracy. You will be able to engage with relevant and up-to-date topics, including politics, education, gender equality and popular entertainment in Sweden.

Is this course for me?
If you want to move confidently from beginner to intermediate level, this is the course for you. It’s perfect for the self-study learner, with a one-to-one tutor, or for the beginner classroom. It can be used as a refresher course as well as to support study for the ‘Swedex‘ Swedish proficiency test.

What do I get?
-20 learning units plus verb reference and word glossary 
-Discovery Method – figure out rules and patterns to make the language stick
-Teaches the key skills – reading, writing, listening, and speaking
-Learn to learn – tips and skills on how to be a better language learner
-Culture notes – learn about the people and places of Sweden
-Outcomes-based learning – focus your studies with clear aims
-Authentic listening activities – everyday conversations give you a flavour of real spoken Swedish
-Test Yourself – see and track your own progress

*Complete Swedish maps from A1 Beginner to B2 Upper Intermediate level of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) guidelines and from Novice-Low to Advanced-Mid level of the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) proficiency guidelines.

The audio for this course can be downloaded from the Teach Yourself Library app or streamed at library.teachyourself.com.

 

New book – Teach Yourself Complete Swedish

Posted on by
Reply

Teach Yourself Complete Swedish – to be published 8 March 2018

Some of you may know that I, Anneli, have been writing on a completely new version of Teach Yourself Complete Swedish (Hodder and Stoughton) for the past couple of years. Today, I am delighted to share with you that the book is finally out on Amazon for pre-order, the publication date is 8 March 2018. Very exciting times!

The book starts from scratch on beginner level A1, and then moves on quite quickly to A2, and finishes around B2-level. It is basically a beginners to intermediate book, in the usual Teach Yourself format that this series offer.

I’ll talk more in detail about the book later on, but for now, check out the nice cover on Amazon. 🙂