Learn how to politely decline a suggestion and offer an explanation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha:I’m Alisha, and welcome back to |
| SwedishPod101.com! This is Beginner Season 1, lesson 11 - Are You Having a Bad Day in Sweden? |
| Satsuki:Hej allihopa, I’m Satsuki. |
| Alisha:In this lesson, you’ll learn how to politely decline a suggestion, and give an explanation. |
| Satsuki:The conversation takes place at an office party, and it’s between Lisa and her work mate, or ‘jobbar kompis’, as we say in Swedish. |
| Alisha:And they’ll be using casual Swedish, since they know each other. |
| Satsuki:Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Alisha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Jobbarkompis Lisa, varför dansar du inte? |
| Alisha:Lisa, why are you not dancing? |
| Lisa Jag vill inte dansa, eftersom jag är trött. |
| Alisha:I don’t want to dance because I’m tired. |
| Jobbarkompis Jaha. Vill du ha en öl? |
| Alisha:I see. Would you like a beer? |
| Lisa Nej tack, det är bra. |
| Alisha:No thanks, I’m good. |
| Jobbarkompis Ett glas vin kanske? |
| Alisha:A glass of wine perhaps? |
| Lisa Nej. |
| Alisha:No. |
| Jobbarkompis Varför dricker du inte? |
| Alisha:Why aren’t you drinking? |
| Lisa Jag vill inte dricka, eftersom jag har ont i huvudet. |
| Alisha:I don’t want to drink because I have a headache. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alisha:So, tell me Satsuki, is it common for Swedes to hang out with the people they work with? |
| Satsuki:Well, that depends on the work place, but I would definitely say that it’s not uncommon. |
| Alisha:So what kinds of things do they typically do ? |
| Satsuki:That also depends. Some co-workers do things like work out together, or some might go for a beer or a glass of wine after work. |
| Alisha:I see. |
| Satsuki:In fact, going for a drink after work has become more and more common in the last couple of years. Swedes actually refer to this activity as “after work”. |
| Alisha:Really, that’s interesting! But do you actually become real friends with the people you work with? |
| Satsuki:Actually, a lot of people do develop real friendships with their co-workers, and some even meet their partners through work. |
| Alisha:I see, is that common? |
| Satsuki:Hmm, I wouldn’t say common, but a recent survey did show that 14 percent of the Swedes who had a partner, had met them through work. |
| Alisha:Interesting! But now, let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Alisha:Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is: |
| Satsuki:att dansa [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:to dance |
| Satsuki:att dansa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:att dansa [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:varför [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:why |
| Satsuki:varför [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:varför [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:öl [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:beer |
| Satsuki:öl [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:öl [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:att dricka [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:to drink |
| Satsuki:att dricka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:att dricka [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:eftersom [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:because |
| Satsuki:eftersom [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:eftersom [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:trött [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:tired |
| Satsuki:trött [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:trött [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:vin [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:wine |
| Satsuki:vin [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:vin [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:glas [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:glass |
| Satsuki:glas [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:glas [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:kanske [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:perhaps |
| Satsuki:kanske [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:kanske [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:ont i huvudet [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:headache |
| Satsuki:ont i huvudet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:ont i huvudet [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Alisha:Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Satsuki:We’ll start with the word ‘kanske’. |
| Alisha:That means “perhaps” right? |
| Satsuki:Yes, that’s right, and you can use it like in the dialog when Lisa’s co-worker says ‘ett glas vin, kanske’, which is “a glass of wine perhaps” |
| Alisha:Can it be used in any other ways? |
| Satsuki:Actually, it can. You can also use it to mean “maybe”. |
| Alisha:I see, so if I want to say “maybe” or “maybe not” I would say? |
| Satsuki:‘Kanske’ and ‘kanske inte’. Now, let’s move on. Next up is ‘ont i huvudet’. |
| Alisha:That means “headache”, right? |
| Satsuki:Yes, but literally it’s “pain in the head”. ‘Huvudet’ is “head”. The first part of this is a very good expression to master, because it’s used to express any kind of physical pain in Swedish. |
| Alisha:So, what would you say if you had a stomachache, then? |
| Satsuki:Of course, you’ll need to change the body part that you are talking about. So instead of saying ‘ont i huvudet’ you will say ‘ont i magen’. ‘Magen’ is stomach. |
| Alisha:And if you want to say that you have a sore throat? |
| Satsuki:Then you will say ‘ont i halsen’. ‘Halsen’ is “throat” |
| Alisha:I see, that wasn’t too difficult! Let’s move on to the grammar now. |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha:In this lesson you’ll learn how to politely decline a suggestion, and give an explanation. |
| Satsuki:Let’s start with the easiest part, politely declining a suggestion. |
| Alisha:Ok, and how do we do that? |
| Satsuki:You can do it by using the same phrase Lisa used in the dialog. |
| Alisha:You mean, when she says “no thanks, I’m good”. |
| Satsuki:Yes, exactly! |
| Alisha:And how do you say that in Swedish? |
| Satsuki:‘Nej tack, det är bra’. |
| Alisha:But the second part of this sentence “I’m good”... does that literally translate to what you said in Swedish? |
| Satsuki:Good question! No, it doesn’t actually - ‘det är bra’ in Swedish literally translates to “it is good”. |
| Alisha:I see, that was pretty easy, but we should let our listeners practice this phrase. |
| Satsuki:Ok, repeat after me - ‘Nej tack, det är bra’. [pause] |
| Alisha:Now, let’s move on and look at how we can give an explanation. |
| Satsuki:Sure! We can again do that by looking at one of the sentences from the dialog. |
| Alisha:The one where Lisa says “I do not want to drink, because I have a headache”? |
| Satsuki:In Swedish, it’s ‘Jag vill inte dricka, eftersom jag har ont i huvudet’. |
| Alisha:So, the first part of the sentence “I do not want to drink” is actually a statement . |
| Satsuki:Yes, and it’s similar to the kinds of sentences we’ve looked at in a previous lesson, because it uses the modal verb ‘vill’, which means “want”, together with the main verb. In this case, the main verb is ‘att dricka’ which means “to drink”. |
| Alisha:And as always, when we use a modal verb, the main verb in the sentence is in its infinitive, but you remove the “to”. |
| Satsuki:That’s right, remove the ‘att’. |
| Alisha:But wait, aren’t we forgetting something? |
| Satsuki:Like what? |
| Alisha:Well, this is negative sentence, right? |
| Satsuki:That’s right! And in Swedish, it’s actually very easy to make negative sentences. |
| Alisha:Really, how? |
| Satsuki:You just put the word ‘inte’, which means “don't”, directly after the first verb in the sentence. |
| Alisha:So, in this case, the Swedish word for “don't” comes after the modal verb “want”? |
| Satsuki:Yes! |
| Alisha:Do you have an example of a regular statement and a negative statement so we can compare how they sound? |
| Satsuki:Sure! For example, if you want to say “I want to eat pizza” you would say ‘jag vill äta pizza’. And if you want to say “I don't want to eat pizza” you would say ‘jag vill inte äta pizza’. |
| Alisha:Well, that wasn't so hard! |
| Satsuki:I’m glad you think so! Now, let’s look at the final part of the sentence from the dialog, the one where Lisa is actually providing an explanation about why she doesn’t want to drink. |
| Alisha:She says “because I have a headache”. |
| Satsuki:In Swedish, it’s ‘eftersom jag har ont i huvudet’. |
| Alisha:So the first word here is “because”, right? |
| Satsuki:Yes, and it’s used exactly like in English, since it’s placed before the actual explanation. In this case the explanation is that Lisa has a headache. |
| Alisha:Okay, it think I understand, but maybe we should put everything together to make it clearer. |
| Satsuki:Great idea! Let’s start with the first part of the sentence, which states that you don’t want to do something. |
| Alisha:Let’s take the same example as before, “I don’t want to eat pizza.” |
| Satsuki:‘Jag vill inte äta pizza’ |
| Alisha:Okay, and now we also need to give an explanation, so I guess we will continue the sentence by using the Swedish word for “because”. |
| Satsuki:Which is ‘eftersom’. |
| Alisha:And now, we actually need to give the explanation for why we don’t want to eat pizza. Let’s say “I don’t want to eat pizza, because I’m on a diet”. |
| Satsuki:In Swedish, that’s ‘Jag vill inte äta pizza, eftersom jag bantar’. Now listeners, let’s practice! Repeat after me. ‘Jag vill inte äta pizza, eftersom jag bantar.’ |
| Alisha:Great! I think that’ll do it for this lesson! Make sure you check the lesson notes, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Satsuki:Thanks for listening, everyone! Hej då! |
| Alisha:Bye everyone! |
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