Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Swedish Survival Phrases brought to you by SwedishPod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Sweden. You’ll be surprised at how far a little Swedish will go.
Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by SwedishPod101.com and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. When you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

Lesson focus
Swedish Survival Phrases lesson 7 - Letting Them Know You Don’t Understand Their Swedish.
“I don't understand” is going to be a very useful phrase because most of the time, maybe even almost 100% of the time, you won’t understand. While there are similarities between English and Swedish, in the beginning, there will likely be an adjustment period, during which your ears get used to Swedish.
In Swedish, “I don’t understand” is Jag förstår inte.
Jag förstår inte.
Let’s break it down by syllable: Jag förstår inte.
Now, let’s say it once again, Jag förstår inte.
The first word, jag, means “I.”
Let’s break down this word and hear it one more time: jag.
jag
This is followed by förstår, which in Swedish is “understand.”
förstår
förstår
So to recap here, we have jag förstår. Literally, this means “I understand.”
Let’s take a look at the next word, which is inte, which means “not.”
inte
inte
So all together, we have Jag förstår inte.
Literally, this means “I understand not.”
“I don’t understand.”
Another way to express “I don’t understand” is Jag fattar inte.
Jag fattar inte.
Let’s break it down by syllable: Jag fattar inte.
Now, let’s hear it once again, Jag fattar inte.
We have the same sentence as previous phrase, but let’s take a look at the middle part, the verb. This is a more slang way of saying “I don’t understand,” but it’s becoming more widely accepted. The new word for “understand” is fattar.
fattar
Let’s break down this word and hear it once again, fattar.
fattar
So all together, we have Jag fattar inte.
Literally, this means “I don’t understand.”
This could also be used more like “I don’t get it.”
Today, we’ll look at a really useful grammatical structure. This structure can be used to talk about other things that cannot be done by simply changing the verb in the middle. Whenever you don’t understand the Swedish that is spoken, just say jag förstår inte and they will explain it for you. Don’t be shy as it’s better that you get an explanation in English than not understand at all.
To really reinforce what you’ve learned, you could combine “excuse me” with “I don’t understand. Can you speak English?” The combination will sound like this:
Ursäkta. Jag förstår inte. Kan du prata engelska?

Outro
Okay, to close out today’s lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so lycka till, that means “good luck” in Swedish. Ok, here we go!
“I don't understand.” - Jag förstår inte.
Jag förstår inte.
Jag förstår inte.
“I don't get it.” - Jag fattar inte.
Jag fattar inte.
Jag fattar inte.
Alright, that's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by SwedishPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. When you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

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