Learn how to talk about Swedish personal pronouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Morten: Welcome to SwedishPod101.com Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 16 - Talking About Your Swedish Friends. Hej och välkomna, Morten here. |
| Jasmine: Hej, allihopa. I'm Jasmine. |
| Morten: In this lesson, we're talking about friends and other people in general. |
| Jasmine: We're in town at Kungsportsplatsen at the most popular meeting place in Gothenburg, Kopparmärran. |
| Morten: James is talking to Anders in the early evening. |
| Jasmine: They're waiting for other friends to arrive and the situation is pretty informal. |
| Morten: Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Anders: Hej James. Är du här redan? |
| James: Javisst, det var inte svårt att hitta hit. Vem kommer i kväll? |
| Anders: Alltså, det blir Sara, Per, Craig, Erica och kanske Martin. Känner du dem? |
| James: Jag känner Craig, han är amerikan, eller? |
| Anders: Ja det stämmer. Och Erica hon är hans svenska flickvän. |
| James: Sara jobbar också på IO, inte sant? Och Per...var det hennes pojkvän? |
| Anders: Ja just det. Och Martin är en kompis till mig som redan jobbar. |
| Morten: And now, let's listen to the slow version. |
| Jasmine: Nu ska vi lyssna på den sakta versionen. |
| Anders: Hej James. Är du här redan? |
| James: Javisst, det var inte svårt att hitta hit. Vem kommer i kväll? |
| Anders: Alltså, det blir Sara, Per, Craig, Erica och kanske Martin. Känner du dem? |
| James: Jag känner Craig, han är amerikan, eller? |
| Anders: Det stämmer. Och Erica hon är hans svenska flickvän. |
| James: Sara jobbar också på IO, inte sant? Och Per...var det hennes pojkvän? |
| Anders: Just det. Och Martin är en kompis till mig som redan jobbar. |
| Morten: And now with the English translation. |
| Jasmine: Och nu med den engelska översättningen. |
| Anders: Hej James. Är du här redan? |
| Morten: Hi, James. Are you already here? |
| James: Javisst, det var inte svårt att hitta hit. Vem kommer i kväll? |
| Morten: Sure, it wasn't hard to find. Who is coming tonight? |
| Anders: Alltså, det blir Sara, Per, Craig, Erica och kanske Martin. Känner du dem? |
| Morten: Well, it's going to be Sara, Per, Craig, Erica and possibly Martin. Do you know them? |
| James: Jag känner Craig, han är amerikan, eller? |
| Morten: I know Craig. He's American, right? |
| Anders: Det stämmer. Och Erica hon är hans svenska flickvän. |
| Morten: That's right. And Erica, she is his Swedish girlfriend. |
| James: Sara jobbar också på IO, inte sant? Och Per...var det hennes pojkvän? |
| Morten: Sara also works at the IO, isn't that right? And Per...wasn't that her boyfriend? |
| Anders: Just det. Och Martin är en kompis till mig som redan jobbar. |
| Morten: That's right. And Martin is a friend of mine who's already working. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Morten: Our main characters are meeting at the popular spot in Gothenburg, what else do we need to know about the city of Gothenburg. |
| Jasmine: Well Gothenburg is Sweden's second largest city after the capital Stockholm. |
| Morten: I heard it has around half million inhabitants with close to a million in the wider area. |
| Jasmine: That's right. Gothenburg is on the West Coast of Sweden on the North Sea. |
| Morten: It is an old Pole town and has like Stockholm a beautiful archipelago off the coast. |
| Jasmine: Yes, it's also accessible by public transport, at least parts of it are. |
| Morten: The city is large and very green and has ground boulevards and many attractions. |
| Jasmine: Absolutely. First and foremost, there is Avenyn, that is a street with most of Gothenburg's famous sites. |
| Morten: The statue where our two friends meet, Kopparmärran and the Square Kungsportsplatsen are both on Avenyn, right? |
| Jasmine: And the stones throw away from there is the main tourist office. |
| Morten: Off Avenyn are also the amazing art museum many shops and hotels, the University District of Vasastaden and much more. And the Swedish spoken there is quite beautiful. |
| Jasmine: Gothenburg is perhaps not quite as pretty as Stockholm, but Gothenburgers and their dialect are well liked in Sweden. |
| Morten: Even in Stockholm? |
| Jasmine: Well Stockholm and Gothenburg have quite a rivalry in Sweden. |
| Morten: So is that a big thing between the two cities. |
| Jasmine: Yes. They like to make jokes about each other. |
| Morten: Okay, thank you. But the city of Gothenburg itself is as charming as its citizens? |
| Jasmine: It is indeed. It's well worth a visit anytime of the year, but especially in spring or summer. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Morten: And now let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First, we have. |
| Jasmine: Redan [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Already. |
| Jasmine: Redan [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Redan [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Hitta [natural native speed] |
| Morten: To find. |
| Jasmine: Hitta [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Hitta [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Hit [natural native speed] |
| Morten: This way (direction) |
| Jasmine: Hit [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Hit [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Känna [natural native speed] |
| Morten: To know, to feel. |
| Jasmine: Känna [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Känna [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Alltså [natural native speed] |
| Morten: So, therefore. |
| Jasmine: Alltså [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Alltså [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Flickvän [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Girlfriend. |
| Jasmine: Flickvän [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Flickvän [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Pojkvän [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Boyfriend. |
| Jasmine: Pojkvän [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Pojkvän [natural native speed] |
| Morten: And finally, we have. |
| Jasmine: Också [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Also, as well. |
| Jasmine: Också [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Också [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Morten: And now, let's take a closer look at the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Jasmine: We'll focus on two ways of turning a sentence into a question. |
| Morten: All right, but before that, let's take a slightly closer look at some of the other vocab from this lesson. |
| Jasmine: Exactly, first, we have the word hit, this way. |
| Morten: Yes, that's an odd one. We don't have a word like that in English, do we? |
| Jasmine: Not in these days, no. The literal translation is to hear. English used to have the word hither for this concept, but no one really uses it anymore. Hither looks a lot like hit doesn't it? |
| Morten: Oh, I never noticed that. Anyway, back to words that still exists. People call the people or animals with hit, don't they? |
| Jasmine: Exactly, Yaram kom hit, come over here. |
| Morten: Interesting. So it always points in the direction of where you are at that moment? |
| Jasmine: That's correct. Listen and repeat, Helena, kom hit! |
| Morten: Helena kom hit, very good. |
| Jessi: And then we have the verb Känna. |
| Morten: What's so strange about that word? Why do we need to take up here? |
| Jasmine: Well it translates into English as both to know and to feel. |
| Morten: I see. In our dialogue, here it means to know, right? |
| Jasmine: It does, to know well in particular. And if you add the preposition till after it… |
| Morten: känna till |
| Jasmine: That means to know of. So you've only heard of someone rather than knowing him personally. |
| Morten: And känna can also mean to feel? |
| Jasmine: Yes, it can. Context will tell you whether it's knowing or feeling. |
| Morten: Another clue is that sometimes when it means to feel, it takes the proposition efter doesn't it? |
| Jasmine: That's right. But let's now move on to our question or confirmation text. |
| Morten: Okay. In English there are many short phrases we can tag on to the end of a sentence to mark it as a question and seek confirmation of what we've just said. |
| Jasmine: Isn't it, doesn't it, hasn't it, and many other words and phrases. |
| Morten: And I'm quite fond of using them, am I not? |
| Jasmine: Yeah, I've noticed. And you just used one there. |
| Morten: So how do we do that in Swedish? |
| Jasmine: There isn't as much variety, but that is probably a good thing. One thing you can add to the end is Eller? |
| Morten: And that means or, I guess in that sense, it probably means something closer to or not, Han kommer ikväll, eller? |
| Jasmine: He's coming tonight, isn't he? Please listen and repeat, Han kommer ikväll, eller? |
| Morten: Very good, thank you. And I think I know another question time, Inte sant?, isn't that right? |
| Jasmine: Yes. Please listen and repeat after me, Hon är från Polen, inte sant? |
| Morten: Hon är från Polen, inte sant? |
| Jasmine: Well done, everybody. |
Lesson focus |
| Morten: And now let's take a look at the grammar for this lesson. In the lesson focus, we are looking at personal pronouns. |
| Jasmine: That's right. You've seen and heard them before with us, but we've never addressed them systematically. |
| Morten: Until now. Like English, Swedish distinguished pronouns by person, number and gender. |
| Jasmine: Gender in English, oh, you mean he, she, it? |
| Morten: Precisely, but in Swedish, the pronouns are a tad more complex, let's hear them first. |
| Jasmine: Jag, Du, Han, Hon, Den, Det, Vi, Ni, De. |
| Morten: Could you break them down a little more to give our listeners time to repeat them? |
| Jasmine: Of course, Jag, Du, Han, Hon, Den, Det, Vi, Ni, De. |
| Morten: Tack så mycket, but why are there so many? I mean there's at least one more than English? |
| Jasmine: That's right. For English has he she it, Swedish has hon, han den and det. One he, one she, but two its. |
| Morten: Yikes. I think we need to hear them again with translations this time. |
| Jasmine: jag I, du you, han he, hon she, den it, det it, vi we, ni plural you, de they. |
| Morten: So Swedish has two different words for it. Why is that? |
| Jasmine: Do you remember the difference between utrum and neutrum, the two genders in Swedish. |
| Morten: Yes, of course, every noun is either utrum or neutrum but what does that have to do with pronouns? |
| Jasmine: A lot. English doesn't have grammatical gender, but it has pronouns for natural gender. |
| Morten: It distinguishes between masculine and feminine wherever possible. |
| Jasmine: Yes and English speakers do sometimes use it and they without reference to gender. |
| Morten: Okay. So English gender is not entirely natural either, but back to Swedish. |
| Jasmine: Well Swedish has a system of grammatical gender, but obviously it also recognizes natural gender, feminine and masculine for human beings, animals et cetera. |
| Morten: That's why Swedes have han and hon for masculine and feminine beings. |
| Jasmine: But they also use den for objects, abstract ideas and other nouns at the utrum gender. |
| Morten: And det for nouns that are neutrum. Got it. |
| Jasmine: Perhaps, we should serve up some examples and give our listeners time to digest them. |
| Morten: Very good idea. Go ahead. |
| Jasmine: James är från England. Han är engelsman. |
| Morten: James is from England. He is an Englishman. Let's practice that. |
| Jasmine: James är från England. Han är engelsman. |
| Morten: Very good. And the next example, please? |
| Jasmine: Ewa är från Polen. Hon är polsk. Ewa is from Poland. She is Polish. |
| Morten: Please repeat after me, Ewa är från Polen. Hon är polsk. |
| Jasmine: Excellent. |
| Morten: So let's have an example of an utrum pronoun. |
| Jasmine: Här är en cocktail. Den smakar bra. |
| Morten: Here is a cocktail. It tastes good. Let's hear that again. |
| Jasmine: Här är en cocktail. Den smakar bra. |
| Morten: Brilliant folks. And now a neutrum example. |
| Jasmine: Här är ett äpple. Det är stort. |
| Morten: Here is an apple. It is big. Would you mind repeating that, please? |
| Jasmine: Här är ett äpple. Det är stort. |
| Morten: Very nice indeed. Han and hon we can also use with animals, right? |
| Jasmine: Yes, here's an example of that, Det är våran hund. Han heter Linus. |
| Morten: This is our dog, his called Linus. Or if the dog is female? |
| Jasmine: Hon heter Lady, she is called lady. |
| Morten: So when we want to substitute a pronoun for a noun in Swedish, we need to know… |
| Jasmine: whether the noun is naturally male or female or... |
| Morten: whether the noun is utrum or neutrum in grammatical gender. |
| Jasmine: That second one is not so easy, but you'll get your heads around it. |
| Morten: Incidentally, Swedish sometimes uses the feminine pronouns as referred to large abstract groups and sometimes even to objects. |
| Jasmine: You noticed that, huh? These are remnants of the more developed grammatical gender system that Swedish use to have. |
| Morten: And example will be the word for human beings, isn't that right? |
| Jasmine: Yes, that's correct. Människan kommer ifrån Afrika. Hon är flera hundratusen år gammal. |
| Morten: Human beings comes from Africa. They are several hundred thousand years old. |
| Jasmine: English would use the third person plural pronoun in that second sentence. |
| Morten: And here is an intriguing example from the world of inanimate objects. |
| Jasmine: Oj, klockan är redan 5. Är hon verkligen så mycket? |
| Morten: Oh, it's already 5 o'clock. Isn't it really that late? Fascinating stuff. |
| Jasmine: We've covered a lot of ground just now. Let's quickly recap some examples and sign off. |
| Morten: Right, why don't you give us some short sentences and our listeners can replace the noun and each with a pronoun. |
| Jasmine: Good idea. When you hear the sentence, just answer with the pronoun. Ewa är från Polen. |
| Morten: Hon. |
| Jasmine: Här är ett äpple. |
| Morten: Det. |
| Jasmine: James är från England. |
| Morten: Han. |
| Jasmine: Här är en cocktail. |
| Morten: Den.Thanks a lot and keep up the good work. |
| Jasmine: Listeners, do you know the powerful secret behind rapid progress? |
| Morten: Using the entire system. |
| Jasmine: Lesson notes are an important part of this system. |
| Morten: They include the transcript and translation of the conversation. |
| Jasmine: Key lesson vocabulary… |
| Morten: …and detailed grammar explanations. |
| Jasmine: Lesson notes accompany every audio or video lesson. |
| Morten: Use them on the site or mobile device or print them out. |
| Jasmine: Using the lesson notes with audio and video media will rapidly increase your learning speed. |
| Morten: Go to SwedishPod101.com and download the lesson notes for this lesson, right now. Hejda, everybody. |
| Jasmine: Tack så mycket. Until next time. |
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