Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Morten: Hallå, hej och välkomna. Morten here!
Jasmine: And this is Jasmine. Hej, allihopa.
Morten: This is SwedishPod101.com Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 10 - Going Out in Sweden.
Jasmine: This lesson is about going out for a drink in Sweden.
Morten: The conversation takes place at Sjuans ölhall or beer hall and it's in the evening.
Jasmine: Our main character James is talking to Nils, the Swedish flatmate who took him there.
Morten: The situation is very casual and colloquial since it's about how to order a drink in perfect Swedish.
Jasmine: Let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

James: Vilket trevligt ställe.
Nils: Javisst. Ska vi ta en öl?
James: Jo, men vad och hur beställer jag?
Nils: Du säger helt enkelt, en öl tack. Eller en stor stark, tack.
James: En stor stark?
Nils: Ja, en stor öl från fatet.
James: Okej, då gör jag det. En stor stark, tack.
Morten: And now, let's listen to the slow version.
Jasmine: Nu ska vi lyssna på den sakta versionen.
James: Vilket trevligt ställe.
Nils: Javisst. Ska vi ta en öl?
James: Jo, men vad och hur beställer jag?
Nils: Du säger helt enkelt, en öl tack. Eller en stor stark, tack.
James: En stor stark?
Nils: Ja, en stor öl från fatet.
James: Okej, då gör jag det. En stor stark, tack.
Morten: And now, the English translation.
Jasmine: Och nu med den engelska översättningen.
James: Vilket trevligt ställe.
Morten: What a nice place.
Nils: Javisst. Ska vi ta en öl?
Morten: Sure is. Shall we get a beer?
James: Jo, men vad och hur beställer jag?
Morten: Yeah, but how and what do I order?
Nils: Du säger helt enkelt, en öl tack. Eller en stor stark, tack.
Morten: You say quite simply, "A beer, please." Or "A large strong one."
James: En stor stark?
Morten: "A large strong one"?
Nils: Ja, en stor öl från fatet.
Morten: Yes, a large draft beer.
James: Okej, då gör jag det. En stor stark, tack.
Morten: OK, I'll do that then. A large strong one, please.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Morten: So in this lesson, we're covering something of extreme importance, ordering a beer in a pub.
Jasmine: Sweden has a very special relationship to alcohol.
Morten: Yeah, many people think alcohol in Sweden is very expensive, are they right?
Jasmine: Well, it's not very cheap. See, Sweden has a retail monopoly on alcohol.
Morten: Ah, it's right, the famous alcohol shop, what was it, Systembolaget?
Jasmine: Correct. The selection is great, but the operating hours leave people weeping.
Morten: Ten to six, Monday to Friday and ten to one on a Saturday, that's harsh.
Jasmine: Perhaps, but keep in mind that Sweden has a long history of alcohol abuse and alcoholism.
Morten: A referendum in the '20s of the 20th Century almost banned alcohol entirely, didn't it?
Jasmine: Yes, in response to the government's strict alcohol control, there is still a lot of hembränt around.
Morten: That is illegally home distilled alcohol, isn't it? But mostly in remote parts, true?
Jasmine: Maybe, but it's still a problem. Anyway, because you can buy drinks from only one shop and when it's open, you need to plan your drinks in advance.
Morten: Or else that glass of wine over dinner or those beers at a party won't be had.
Jasmine: Nope, but at least you'll be thinking about how much you drink.
VOCAB LIST
Morten: That's right. Let's now take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First we have.
Jasmine: Ett ställe [natural native speed]
Morten: A place.
Jasmine: Ett ställe [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ett ställe [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: Ta [natural native speed]
Morten: To take.
Jasmine: Ta [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ta [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: En öl [natural native speed]
Morten: A beer.
Jasmine: En öl [slowly - broken down by syllable]. En öl [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: Vad [natural native speed]
Morten: What.
Jasmine: Vad [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Vad [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: Beställa [natural native speed]
Morten: To order.
Jasmine: Beställa [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Beställa [natural native speed]
Morten: Next we have.
Jasmine: stor stark
Morten: Draft beer.
Jasmine: stor stark slowly - broken down by syllable]. stor stark [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: Helt enkelt [natural native speed]
Morten: Quite simply.
Jasmine: Helt enkelt [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Helt enkelt [natural native speed]
Morten: And finally, we have.
Jasmine: En stor stark, tack! [natural native speed]
Morten: A large draft beer, please! (lit. A big/large strong one)
Jasmine: En stor stark, tack! [slowly - broken down by syllable]. En stor stark, tack! [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Morten: Let's now take a look at the words and phrases in this lesson, again immensely useful phrases and expressions in this lesson.
Jasmine: That's right. And we need to take a closer look at the usage of some of the vocab.
Morten: Take the word ta, to take. In the dialogue, it came up as Ta en öl.
Jasmine: That's right. In Swedish Ta is the verb we use to consumer food and drinks.
Morten: In English, we tend to use have a drink, but in Swedish they take one.
Jasmine: Ta en bärs, that's correct.
Morten: Next is the little word Vad. We've covered that before, haven't we?
Jasmine: In lesson five yes, Vad kul, how cool. This time, we used it in its original sense.
Morten: Vad really means, what and the D at the end often gets dropped.
Jasmine: That's right. In Swedish, Vad is sometimes used like how in English, but not all the time.
Morten: And then we heard a phrase used to order a beer. Could we hear that one again, please?
Jasmine: En stor stark, tack.
Morten: A large draft been, please. And once more so our listeners can repeat it.
Jasmine: En stor stark, tack.
Morten: Well done. You can also call that beer stor stark.
Jasmine: That means draft beer. And then there is one other phrase, something that fits into a lot of context very neatly.
Morten: Quite simply, it meant quite simply in English, what was that again?
Jasmine: helt enkelt and I'll say it once more a bit slower, helt enkelt
Morten: This phrase shows that something isn't difficult.
Jasmine: Or wasn't difficult. It can refer to things in the past, present or future.
Morten: Could you say it once more for our listeners to repeat?
Jasmine: helt enkelt.
Morten: Good job. How about an example of this phrase in action?
Jasmine: Beställ helt enkelt, det är inga problem.
Morten: Just order, quite simply. It's not a problem. Great, thank you very much. Now, we'll take a look at the grammar section.

Lesson focus

In this lesson, we will focus on nouns again.
Jasmine: Yes. You remember lesson six, don't you?
Morten: We talked about definite and indefinite nouns.
Jasmine: For example En lägenhet was indefinite while Lägenheten was definite.
Morten: In this lesson, we will look at the gender of nouns. Yes, Swedish has grammatical gender.
Jasmine: But fear not, there are only two forms. One is for neuter nouns, the so called neutrum.
Morten: We had a number of those in the lesson's dialogue.
Jasmine: And the other we've already looked at.
Morten: Just now when we mentioned en lägenhet.
Jasmine: This is the common gender called the utrum in Swedish.
Morten: How can I tell which gender a noun should be?
Jasmine: Well grammatically, gender tends to be a bit elusive, but there are some hints.
Morten: First, living things tend to be utrum.
Jasmine: In fact three quarters of all nouns are utrum.
Morten: So utrum is sort of an educated guess, but other than that…
Jasmine: Yes. Unfortunately, a noun's gender needs to be memorized with the noun.
Morten: I figured it as much. What are the neutrum nouns in the dialogue?
Jasmine: They are ett ställe and ett fat.
Morten: So while utrum nouns take en as their indefinite article, neutrum nouns take?
Jasmine: ett, that's right.
Morten: And when you use the definite form, what does that look like?
Jasmine: Well we have one in the dialogue, Ett fat, fatet.
Morten: This is a little different in spelling from utrum nouns isn't it? Utrum nouns move both letters, E and N to the end when they go from indefinite to definite.
Jasmine: But neutrum nouns drop one T from the ett when they are moved to the end.
Morten: And it's always like this?
Jasmine: Yes. Another example is Ett ställe. The definite form of that noun is Stället only that one T gets moved.
Morten: Okay, I get it. So this is what happens when the word ends in a vowel, you just move the T?
Jasmine: That's right.
Morten: Is that also true for en-words that end in vowels?
Jasmine: Yes. En pojke, a boy becomes Pojken, the boy.
Morten: Very clear, thanks. Let's practice changing some of the words we just covered from the indefinite to the definite. A beer is en öl, so the beer is?
Jasmine: Ölen. Place or venue is ett ställe, so the place is?
Morten: Stället. A flat is En lägenhet, so the flat is?
Jasmine: Lägenheten. And a boy is en pojke, so the boy is?
Morten: Pojken. Excellent work, everyone. Thank you. Make sure to look at the PDF and review the gender we just talked about.
Jasmine: Yes, please do. Tack så mycket för idag!
Morten: Yes, thanks for listening. Tack så mycket. Hejdå.
Jasmine: Hejdå.

Comments

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60 Comments
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SwedishPod101.com
2012-03-06 18:30:00

Hi everyone! How often do you drink alcohol?

SwedishPod101.com
2024-10-03 06:40:58

Hej Matt,

Jaha, dricker du mest på helgdagar? Vad intressant. 😄 Tycker du om öl eller föredrar du något annat?

(I see, you drink mostly on weekdays? How interesting. 😄 Do you like beer or do you prefer something else?)

Vicky

Team SwedishPod101.com

Matt
2024-10-02 07:29:50

Jag dricker alkohol ofta inte längre. Jag dricker mest på helgdager.

SwedishPod101.com
2022-12-15 03:12:24

Hej Sarah,

Yes, exactly, it is "en kopp kaffe" (a cup of coffee), but "ett glas vatten" (a glass of water). 😁

There is unfortunately not a list or even a rule for how to distinguish "en"- and "ett"-words. It is generally something you simply have to learn by heart as you learn Swedish nouns. However, the majority of nouns are "en"-words, so if you are not sure, you can always guess that it is an "en"-word first. 😅

Vicky

Team SwedishPod101.com

Sarah
2022-12-13 07:20:42

Jaha, so glass is ett word meaning mänskor säga 'dett glas' inte 'en glas'

Vad intressant men svart att känna: en cup kafe, tack och ett glas vatten!!!

Hej Vicky, is it possible to get a list of 'en word' and one of 'ett words'? Tack

SwedishPod101.com
2022-12-10 05:44:09

Hej Sarah,

Ett glas i veckan låter väldigt resonligt. 😁

(One glass a week sounds very reasonable.)

Vicky

Team SwedishPod101.com

Sarah
2022-12-04 07:58:43

Absolut, och inte ofta. En glass pa vecka, for example.

SwedishPod101.com
2022-12-02 07:19:33

Hej Sarah,

Jaha, du dricker bara vin? 😁

(I see, you only drink wine? 😁)

Vicky

Team SwedishPod101.com

sarah
2022-11-30 23:39:22

Hej allihopa,

Jag dricka bara vin och inte så ofta

SwedishPod101.com
2022-03-03 00:35:44

Hej Winnie,

Trevligt att träffas! Vad brukar du tycka om att dricka? 😄

(Nice to meet you! What do you usually like to drink?)

Vicky

Team SwedishPod101.com

Winnie
2022-02-25 00:00:23

Hej hej, jag är winnie.

Jag tar inte en öl.

SwedishPod101.com
2021-06-20 07:59:11

Hej Usman,

You are very welcome. 😇

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

We wish you good luck with your language studies.

Kind regards,

Levente

Team SwedishPod101.com

Usman
2021-06-19 22:41:49

thanks much Vicky :) i also saw your comments about how the speed is more so a normal function of swedish speakers. so now i'm trying to get used to it.

SwedishPod101.com
2021-06-18 22:10:56

Hej Usman,

I just saw your comment about listening to it in 0,5x. Sorry! I understand what you mean. I will send it in as feedback to our team. 😇 Thank you for letting us know, we will look into it!

Vicky

Team SwedishPod101.com

SwedishPod101.com
2021-06-18 22:07:17

Hej Usman,

I understand what you mean! Yes, it is quite fast. Remember that you can use the slow down-function to listen to the dialogue in 0,75x or 0,5x. 😄 Then, you can slowly get used to it. However, it is good to eventually practice the ability to catch what Swedes say even when they're speaking fast. Let us know if you have more questions or some feedback! 😉

Vicky

Team SwedishPod101.com

Usman
2021-06-17 01:33:22

For instance "Okej, då gör jag det. En stor stark, tack." listening to this gives a distinct impression that the speaker, as a personal choice, decided to speak all of a sudden fast. Some part of it was normal but others sped through.

Usman
2021-06-17 01:30:12

Hei,

It is indeed worrisome how speakers mumble through, at times, a sentence just at a fast pace. I've never seen such in normal English, unless a person is in certain specific part of the English speaking world where the dialect is such. I remain confused, is this normal how all of a sudden a speaker just speeds past a sentence.

Person B above at times speaks at normal pace and at times speeds through mumbling words that are hard to make out at 0.5x. This is what's confusing, perhaps it is the speaker's personal choice to talk fast rather than a norm.

would highly appreciate any insights and how to cope with this when words don't sound even like they should.

Best Regards,

SwedishPod101.com
2021-04-16 22:42:28

Hej Marcel,

Yes, you are quite right! "Öl" is one of the few nouns that can be used with both "en" and "ett". Often, "en öl" is more common in informal situations, and "ett öl" is more commonly used when referring to types of beer. So, if you are talking about grabbing a beer with your friends, you will hear "en öl" more often. Hope that answers your question! 😄

Vicky

Team SwedishPod101.com

Marcel
2021-04-15 22:11:50

Hej Vicky,

This lesson focus on grammatical gender, yet ett öl and en öl both appear. For the ett öl example, it is pronounced as en öl. Which is it? Both?

SwedishPod101.com
2018-10-17 18:26:45

Hej Kim,

Bra fråga! (Good question!)

In a bar or informal situations, you'd often say "Kan jag få en öl?" (Could I have a beer?), but technically, yes, it should be "ett öl", but this is mainly used in written form when the text is specifically about the beer topic or other "expertise" situations.

I hope this answers your question!

VickyT

Team SwedishPod101.com

Kim
2018-10-11 18:47:29

Hej hej, jag har en fråga :). In the Grammar part it says; ett öl? ( neutrum nouns: ett ställe, ett öl and ett fat. ) but a little further in the discussion Jasmine says it is ölen.

Tack ska du ha! Hejdå, Kim

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