Learn how to say many common phrases
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jasmine: Hi, everyone. Jasmine here. And welcome to Basic Bootcamp Lesson 1. Self-introduction – Basic greetings in Swedish. This is a first of a five part series that will help you ease your way into Swedish. |
| Morten: Jag heter Morten. I'm Morten. Now, the idea of a Boot Camp calls to mind sweating and toil, but our boot camp’s different. |
| Jasmine: Yes, you don’t have to sweat. We promise. |
| Morten: We’ll go over all the basics that will really help you understand Swedish in a fast and easy way. |
| Jasmine: And we’ll have fun doing it. |
| Morten: Yes, and we won’t blow any whistles at you or scream at you to do 200 push-ups though that might work too. We’ll see how it goes. In this lesson you will learn how to introduce yourself and ask someone their name. |
| Jasmine: Now what could be more basic than this? I promise you, you will have this conversation no fewer than 200 times in your first month in Sweden. |
| Morten: Or maybe more. |
| Jasmine: This conversation is between strangers. |
| Morten: The language they’re using is polite because they don’t know each other, but it is not overly formal. |
| Jasmine: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jasmine: Hej. Jag heter Jasmine. Vad heter du? |
| Morten: Hej Jasmine. Jag heter Morten. |
| Jasmine: Trevligt att träffa dig. |
| Morten: Detsamma. |
| Jasmine: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Jasmine: Hej. Jag heter Jasmine. Vad heter du? |
| Morten: Hej Jasmine. Jag heter Morten. |
| Jasmine: Trevligt att träffa dig. |
| Morten: Detsamma. |
| Morten: And now with the translation. |
| Jasmine: Hej. Jag heter Jasmine. Vad heter du? |
| Morten: Hello. My name is Jasmine. What’s your name? |
| Morten: Hej Jasmine. Jag heter Morten. |
| Morten: Hello Jasmine. My name is Morten. |
| Jasmine: Trevligt att träffa dig. |
| Morten: Nice to meet you. |
| Morten: Detsamma. |
| Morten: You too. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| So, Morten, what do people in Sweden do when they first meet? Like, is there any sort of custom? |
| Morten: For the first time, it’s enough for people to shake hands when they first meet. |
| Jasmine: I would say that shaking hands is a must in Sweden. |
| Morten: Yes, but once you become friendly with Swedes you can hug, tap each other on the shoulders or just shake hands. It is, as said before, very similar to English customs. |
| Jasmine: Sometimes people who know each other will still shake hands. |
| Morten: Yeah, it is very important to respect personal space while others will be glad to hug. |
| Jasmine: And in a business situation? |
| Morten: Again, a handshake is your best bet. |
| Jasmine: Sounds easy to me. Ok, let’s take a closer look into the self-introductions. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Morten: We’ll start with the vocabulary words for this lesson. First we have. |
| Jasmine: Hej. |
| Morten: Hello. |
| Jasmine: Hej. Hej. |
| Morten: And next? |
| Jasmine: Jag. |
| Morten: Me. |
| Jasmine: Jag. Jag. |
| Morten: And next? |
| Jasmine: Heter. |
| Morten: Called. |
| Jasmine: heter. heter. |
| Morten: And next? |
| Jasmine: Trevligt. |
| Morten: Nice, pleasant. |
| Jasmine: Trevligt. Trevligt. |
| Morten: Next we have… |
| Jasmine: Träffas. |
| Morten: Meet. |
| Jasmine: träffas. träffas. |
| Morten: And finally we have… |
| Jasmine: detsamma. |
| Morten: You too. |
| Jasmine: detsamma. detsamma. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Jasmine: Ok, so our first word here is “Hello”. It literally means “Hi” and is used both as a casual and formal greeting. |
| Morten: Yes, you’re right. |
| Jasmine: The older way to say “Hi” used to be “Good day”, god dag, but this is rarely, if ever, used. Listeners, listen and repeat this phrase. |
| Morten: Hej. Hej. |
| Jasmine: Great. In this conversation we also heard Trevligt att träffas. |
| Morten: Yes, Trevligt att träffas means something along the lines of “pleasant to meet”. |
| Jasmine: Of course, in this situation the speaker is saying “is very nice” to meet the other person. And so here it has the sense of the English expression “nice to meet you”, but let’s break down this phrase a bit. |
| Morten: Trevligt means “pleasant”. |
| Jasmine: And the second word… |
| Morten: att |
| Jasmine: Means “two”. |
| Morten: And the third word… |
| Jasmine: träffas |
| Morten: This is verb “meet”. |
| Jasmine: And so all together it is… |
| Morten: Trevligt att träffas. |
| Jasmine: Listeners, listen and repeat. |
| Morten: Trevligt att träffas. Trevligt att träffas. |
| Jasmine: Now that you said that naturally, I can’t help but to want to respond detsamma, which means “you too”. |
| Morten: Listeners, listen and repeat. Detsamma. Detsamma. |
| Jasmine: Now that wasn’t too difficult, was it? Hope everyone isn’t getting too overheated in the boot camp. Maybe it’s time for some pushups. |
| Morten: I think I could use some. I'm getting a little out of shape, but for now let’s move on to the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Morten: Let’s take a look at this lesson’s grammar point. |
| Jasmine: What if your companion is, for some reason, hesitant to introduce themselves? |
| Morten: Well, it’s ok to become a little aggressive in your desire to get to know them. |
| Jasmine: Yes, just go ahead and ask their name yourself. |
| Morten: Vad heter du? This is how your question should sounds. |
| Jasmine: Literally it means “What are you called?” and said in a polite and formal form. |
| Morten: Vad |
| Jasmine: Means “what”. Let’s hear that one time again, slowly. |
| Morten: Vad |
| Jasmine: And once again with natural speed. Listeners, repeat after Morten. |
| Morten: Vad |
| Jasmine: Next. |
| Morten: heter |
| Jasmine: Means “called”. Let’s hear it slowly, please. |
| Morten: heter |
| Jasmine: And fast again. |
| Morten: heter |
| Jasmine: Listeners, repeat after Morten. |
| Morten: heter |
| Jasmine: Next. |
| Morten: du |
| Jasmine: Means “you”. We’ve heard this one before but let’s hear it slowly one more time. |
| Morten: du |
| Jasmine: And one more time fast. |
| Morten: du. So altogether the question is Vad heter du? |
| Jasmine: Listeners, listen to the phrase and repeat it out loud. Vad heter du? Vad heter du? Not too hard for a first boot camp lesson, huh? |
| Morten: No it isn’t and if you just use this little bit of Swedish you will already have gone a long way to impressing anyone you might meet in Sweden. |
| Jasmine: That’s right. There’s no better way to signal your interest and respect for the culture than to try and speak a little bit of the language, even if you only know the basics. |
| Morten: That’s right. To recap, let’s try a short dialogue. Imagine your name is Maria. Try to answer the question out loud with the phrase we learned in this lesson. Vad heter du? Jag heter Maria. |
| Jasmine: Great. Now what if someone says to you… |
| Morten: Trevligt att träffas. |
| Jasmine: What would you say? |
| Morten: Detsamma. |
| Jasmine: Great. Now what do you say if you want to learn someone’s name? |
| Morten: Vad heter du? |
| Jasmine: Here, the first step is made. |
| Morten: Well done, everybody. |
Outro |
| Jasmine: That’s it for this lesson. |
| Morten: Thanks for listening. Hej då! |
| Jasmine: See you next time. |
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