Learn how to ask for directions
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha:Hi Everyone, this is Alisha:and welcome toSwedishPod101.com. This is Beginner season 1, lesson 2, How to Get Where You’re Going in Sweden. |
| Satsuki:Hej allihopa, I’m Satsuki. In this lesson, you will learn how to ask for directions and how to understand them. |
| Alisha:Oh, this sounds like a handy lesson! |
| Satsuki:The conversation takes place on a street in Stockholm and it’s between Lisa and a stranger. They don’t know each other, so they will be using formal Swedish. |
| Alisha:Great! Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Lisa Ursäkta mig. |
| Främling Ja? |
| Lisa Vet du var Hotell Blåsippan ligger? |
| Främling Ja det ligger där. Bredvid kyrkan. |
| Lisa Bredvid kyrkan? |
| Främling Ja, mittemot kiosken. |
| Lisa Jaha. Tack så mycket. |
| Främling Varsågod. |
| Alisha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Lisa Ursäkta mig. |
| Främling Ja? |
| Lisa Vet du var Hotell Blåsippan ligger? |
| Främling Ja det ligger där. Bredvid kyrkan. |
| Lisa Bredvid kyrkan? |
| Främling Ja, mittemot kiosken. |
| Lisa Jaha. Tack så mycket. |
| Främling Varsågod. |
| Alisha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Lisa: Excuse me. |
| Stranger: Yes? |
| Lisa: Do you know where Hotel Blåsippan is located? |
| Stranger: Yes, it's over there. Next to the church. |
| Lisa: Next to the church? |
| Stranger: Yes, opposite the kiosk. |
| Lisa: I see. Thank you so much. |
| Stranger: You're welcome. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alisha:I’m glad that the stranger was able to help Lisa find her way! Satsuki, how helpful are Swedish people in general would you say? |
| Satsuki:Hmm…that’s actually a difficult question and I guess it depends on the situation, but if you ask for directions most Swedes would be happy to help you. |
| Alisha:That’s good to hear, but how about in other situations? |
| Satsuki:Well it’s hard to say, because Swedes in general tend to have a “mind your own business” mentality and it’s considered impolite to stick your nose in other peoples’ business, so I guess that we can sometimes come across as quite cold. |
| Alisha:So what would happen if I’d been to the store and I dropped my bag of groceries on the ground – would someone help me? |
| Satsuki:They might, but I wouldn’t hold my breath… |
| Alisha:I see… well okay, let’s move on to vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Alisha:Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Satsuki:att veta [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:know |
| Satsuki:att veta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:att veta [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:var [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:where |
| Satsuki:var [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:var [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:Ursäkta mig [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:Excuse me; I'm sorry |
| Satsuki:Ursäkta mig [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:Ursäkta mig [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:att ligga [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:be located |
| Satsuki:att ligga [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:att ligga [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:bredvid [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:next to |
| Satsuki:bredvid [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:bredvid [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:kyrka [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:church |
| Satsuki:kyrka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:kyrka [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:mittemot [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:opposite |
| Satsuki:mittemot [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:mittemot [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:kiosk [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:kiosk |
| Satsuki:kiosk [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:kiosk [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:jaha [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:I see |
| Satsuki:jaha [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:jaha [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:varsågod [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:you're welcome |
| Satsuki:varsågod [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:varsågod [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Alisha:Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Satsuki:We’ll start with the word ‘var’ which means “where”. |
| Alisha:Ok, I have a question about that word actually. Isn't there another word that sounds similar that you can use when you want to ask where something is located? |
| Satsuki:You might be thinking of the word ’vart’? |
| Alisha:That’s the one! |
| Satsuki:Ok, well, the word ‘vart’ also translates to “where”, but in Swedish it’s only used for when you’re talking about the direction of something. For example if you are asking someone “where they moved”, which would be ‘vart flyttade du’, you will use ‘vart’. |
| Alisha:I see, and how do you use ‘var’ then? |
| Satsuki:You use ‘var’ when you are talking about where something is located. |
| Alisha:Hmm, it sounds a bit complicated. |
| Satsuki:Yes, but don't worry, native speakers might use these words correctly but most of them don’t know why and you will always be understood even if you use them incorrectly. Ok, now, let’s move on and look at the word ‘varsågod’. |
| Alisha:That means “you’re welcome” right? |
| Satsuki:Yes, and that’s how it was used in this lesson’s dialog, but it can also mean something else. |
| Alisha:Really? What’s that? |
| Satsuki:You can also use it in sentences like ‘varsågod att sitt’ which means “please sit” or ‘varsågod att ät’ - “please eat” and in that case it corresponds to the English word “please” instead. |
| Alisha:I see. |
| Satsuki:There’s also another expression that appeared in this lesson’s dialog that can have two different meanings, depending on the context. It's the word ‘jaha’. |
| Alisha:I remember Lisa saying that in the dialog, and in that context it corresponded to the English “I see”, right? |
| Satsuki:Yes, but when used in other situations, the same expression ‘jaha’ actually corresponds better to the English “Oh well”. |
| Alisha:So how can we tell them apart? |
| Satsuki:Usually the situation will reveal what the speaker means when they say ‘jaha’, but you can also tell from the pronunciation. When they are saying it to mean “I see”, the stress in ‘jaha’ will usually be put on the last vowel. |
| Alisha:How would that sound? |
| Satsuki:‘Jahaa’. |
| Alisha:And the other meaning of ‘jaha’, how is that pronounced? |
| Satsuki:The “oh well“ version of ‘jaha’ puts the stress on the first vowel. Like this - ‘jaaha’. |
| Alisha. I see. Listeners, pay attention so you don’t get them confused! Now let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha:In this lesson we will learn how to ask for directions and understand them. Let’s look at one of Lisa’s sentences from this lesson’s dialog. It was “Do you know where Hotel Blåsippan is located?”? |
| Satsuki:In Swedish this is ‘Vet du var Hotell Blåsippan ligger?’ So whenever you want to ask for the location of something in Swedish, you can simply use this sentence and just switch the ‘Hotell Blåsippan’ for the name of the place you are asking about. |
| Alisha:Okay, I think I understand! So if I want to ask for directions to Globen, which is a famous concert hall in Stockholm, how would I do that in Swedish? |
| Satsuki:‘Vet du var Globen ligger?’ |
| Alisha:That was easy! |
| Satsuki:Right! Now listeners, let’s practice this sentence together, repeat after me. |
| Satsuki:‘Vet du var Globen ligger?’ [pause] |
| Alisha:Okay one more! This time I want to ask about Sergelstorg, a famous square located in Stockholm. So what do I say? |
| Satsuki:You would say ‘Vet du var Sergelstorg ligger?’ |
| Alisha:That wasn’t too hard, but maybe we should practice it? |
| Satsuki:That sounds like a good idea. Okay listeners, repeat after me. ‘Vet du var Sergelstorg ligger?’ [pause] |
| Alisha:Okay I think I’ve got the hang of it now, but after I’ve asked the question, how can I understand what the person is telling me? |
| Satsuki:Well, of course there will always be times when you might not understand the directions you are getting completely. But something that will probably help you is knowing some prepositions. |
| Alisha:That’s a good hint. And I think there were actually two prepositions in this lesson’s dialog. |
| Satsuki:Yes, we introduced ‘brevid’ meaning “next to” and ‘mittemot’ meaning “opposite”. There are also two others that would be good to know. |
| Alisha:Great! What are those? |
| Satsuki:Well, there’s ‘framför’ which means “in front of”, and ‘bakom’ which means “behind”. |
| Alisha:Okay, and how would we use these prepositions? |
| Satsuki:Good question! Just like in English, the preposition is placed in front of the noun. |
| Alisha:That seems easy. So “in front of the pharmacy” would be? |
| Satsuki:‘Framför apoteket’. |
| Alisha:And “behind the kiosk” would be? |
| Satsuki:‘Bakom kiosken’. |
| Alisha:Okay. Before we finish up this lesson, I have one last question. |
| Satsuki:Sure! Shoot! |
| Alisha:Well I am bit confused by how Swedes pronounce the Swedish word for “kiosk”. There seem to be two different ways. Could you explain that? |
| Satsuki:There are two ways, you’re right. The first way you can do it is to pronounce the initial ‘k’ like the “k” in the word “key”. |
| Alisha:Okay and how about the other way? |
| Satsuki:The other way is to pronounce the initial ‘k’ as “sh” like the start of the word “shop”. |
| Alisha:Thank you for clearing that up for me! |
| Satsuki:You’re welcome! Both ways are fine, so use the one you are most comfortable with! Well that is it for this time! Thank you for listening! Hej då. |
| Alisha:Yes, bye everyone! See you next time! |
Comments
Hide