Learn how to compare options with adjectives in their superlative form
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha:Hi Everyone! This is Alisha:and welcome back to SwedishPod101.com. This is Beginner season 1, lesson 20 - Where in Sweden Are You Going Skiing? |
| Satsuki:Hej allihopa! I’m Satsuki. |
| Alisha:In this lesson, you'll learn how to compare options with adjectives in their superlative form. |
| Satsuki:The conversation takes place at Lisa’s apartment |
| Alisha:And it’s between Lisa and her friend Anna. They’ll be using informal Swedish |
| Satsuki:Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Lisa Vad ska du göra under sportlovet? |
| Anna Jag ska åka skidor. |
| Lisa Jaså. Var? |
| Anna. Jag vet inte än. I Åre eller i Sälen. |
| Lisa Vilket är bäst? |
| Anna Åre har den vackraste naturen, men att åka till Sälen är det billigaste alternativet. |
| Lisa Det låter som ett svårt beslut. |
| Alisha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Lisa Vad ska du göra under sportlovet? |
| Anna Jag ska åka skidor. |
| Lisa Jaså. Var? |
| Anna. Jag vet inte än. I Åre eller i Sälen. |
| Lisa Vilket är bäst? |
| Anna Åre har den vackraste naturen, men att åka till Sälen är det billigaste alternativet. |
| Lisa Det låter som ett svårt beslut. |
| Alisha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Lisa Vad ska du göra under sportlovet? |
| Alisha:What are you going to do during the winter holidays? |
| Anna Jag ska åka skidor. |
| Alisha:I’m going to ski. |
| Lisa Jaså. Var? |
| Alisha:Really. Where? |
| Anna. Jag vet inte än. I Åre eller i Sälen. |
| Alisha:I don’t know yet. In Åre or Sälen. |
| Lisa Vilket är bäst? |
| Alisha:Which one is better? |
| Anna Åre har den vackraste naturen, men att åka till Sälen är det billigaste alternativet. |
| Alisha:Åre has the most beautiful nature, but going to Sälen is the cheapest option. |
| Lisa Det låter som ett svårt beslut. |
| Alisha:It sounds like a difficult decision. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alisha:A ski trip sounds great! I didn’t know there were any good areas for skiing in Sweden! |
| Satsuki:Well there are some, like the places that are mentioned in the dialog, Åre and Sälen! |
| Alisha:Which of these do you think is better? |
| Satsuki:I think Åre is probably better, because the conditions for skiing and snowboarding are better. But Sälen is also a great option, because it’s only about 5 hours away from Stockholm by car. |
| Alisha:I see! So I guess these are the places Swedes go on their winter holidays. Satsuki, how do you say “winter holiday” in Swedish? |
| Satsuki:It’s ‘Sportlov’ and it translates to “sport-holiday”. |
| Alisha:That’s an interesting name for a holiday - what’s it for? |
| Satsuki:Well this was a holiday that was first introduced during the 1940s as a way to save some of the fuel that was being used to heat up schools. The focus on winter sport is something that has come gradually. |
| Alisha:I see, so when is this winter holiday? |
| Satsuki:It depends where you live in Sweden, but it’s always either February or March. |
| Alisha:Interesting! Okay, now it’s time for the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Alisha:Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Satsuki:under [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:during |
| Satsuki:under [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:under [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:sportlovet [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:winter holiday |
| Satsuki:sportlovet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:sportlovet [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:att åka skidor [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:to ski |
| Satsuki:att åka skidor [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:att åka skidor [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:att veta [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:to know |
| Satsuki:att veta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:att veta [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:alternativet [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:option |
| Satsuki:alternativet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:alternativet [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:vacker [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:beautiful |
| Satsuki:vacker [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:vacker [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:naturen [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:nature |
| Satsuki:naturen [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:naturen [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:billig [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:cheap |
| Satsuki:billig [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:billig [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:svårt [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:difficult |
| Satsuki:svårt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:svårt [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Satsuki:beslut [natural native speed] |
| Alisha:decision |
| Satsuki:beslut [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Satsuki:beslut [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:Let’s start by looking at how we say “to ski” in Swedish. |
| Alisha:Isn’t there just a verb that you can use? |
| Satsuki:Well, that’s just it. We don’t have a specific verb that corresponds to the verb “to ski”. Instead, you use the verb ‘att åka’ together with the noun ‘skidor’ which means “skis”. |
| Alisha:Okay, I see! |
| Satsuki:And bear in mind that the verb ‘att åka’ can mean different things such as “to go”, “to travel” or “to drive”. |
| Alisha:Hmm, it sounds like it can be used for any kind of movement. |
| Satsuki:Yes, it’s a very versatile verb, but it can only be used when we’re talking about using some sort of transportation. |
| Alisha:Okay, got it. So we can’t use it when we’re talking about going somewhere on foot? |
| Satsuki:Exactly! |
| Alisha:Okay, so what else do we have? |
| Satsuki:Let’s spend some time on the ‘lov’ in ‘sportlov. |
| Alisha:And what does that mean? |
| Satsuki:The word ‘lov’ means “holiday”, and it’s only used to talk about the holidays that students get from school. |
| Alisha:Okay. Is there another word for the type of vacation people get from work? |
| Satsuki:Yes, in that case, you use the word ‘semester’. |
| Alisha:Ok, so remember there’s a difference, listeners! Now let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha:In this lesson, you’ll learn how to compare options with adjectives in their superlative form. In previous lessons, we’ve learned how to change adjectives that conjugate regularly into their comparative and superlative form. So Satsuki, what’s new in this lesson? |
| Satsuki:Well, in this lesson we’ll continue to look at superlative adjectives, since they take an ending in their definite form. And this should not be that difficult, because we’ve already learned how to make those changes to adjectives, like you said. |
| Alisha:Hmm, I remember how to change adjectives into their comparative form, but I must admit that I’ve forgotten how to change them into their superlative form. |
| Satsuki:Okay, don't worry. Let’s go through it one more time, to refresh our memory. |
| Alisha:Great! |
| Satsuki:For adjectives that have regular conjugation, such as ‘billig’ - “cheap” - you simply add ‘–ast’ [a-s-t] to the ending to make it into its superlative form. |
| Alisha:So “cheapest” would be? |
| Satsuki:‘Billigast’. |
| Alisha:That was easy! |
| Satsuki:Yes, but of course there are some exceptions. |
| Alisha:There always are! Tell me about them! |
| Satsuki:Okay! For those adjectives that have regular conjugation and end in ‘-er’, ‘-el’ or ‘–en’, the ‘–e’ before the ‘–r’, ‘-l’ or ‘–n’ is dropped before the ending ‘–ast’ is added. |
| Alisha:Do you have any examples? |
| Satsuki:Yes, the adjective ‘vacker’ - “beautiful” - that appears in the dialog, is an example of an adjective that end in ‘–er’. |
| Alisha:And how does it change to its superlative form? |
| Satsuki:You need to drop the ‘–e’ before the ‘–r’ and then add the ending ‘–ast’. So ‘vacker’ becomes ‘vackrast’ - most beautiful. |
| Alisha:Great! Now let’s move on to look at the ending that superlative adjectives take in their definite form. Let’s talk about one of Anna’s sentences from the dialog, which had two superlative adjectives in their definite form. |
| Satsuki:It’s when Anna says, "Åre has the most beautiful scenery, but going to Sälen is the cheapest option." In Swedish, that was ‘Åre har den vackraste naturen, men att åka till Sälen är det billigaste alternativet’. |
| Alisha:Hmm, the superlative adjectives in this sentence sound a bit different. |
| Satsuki:That’s right, and it’s because they’re in their definite forms, and have taken an ending. |
| Alisha:Okay, I think you need to explain that a bit more. |
| Satsuki:Of course! We’ve talked about the superlative adjectives ‘vackrast’ - “most beautiful” - and ‘billigast’ - “cheapest”, right? |
| Alisha:I remember. |
| Satsuki:So, to change these superlative adjectives into their definite form, we need to add an ending. |
| Alisha:Okay. |
| Satsuki:For superlative adjectives like ‘vackrast’ and ‘billigast’, which end in ‘–ast’, you simply add the ending ‘–e’. So they become ‘vackraste’ and ‘billigaste’. |
| Alisha:That was easy, but do you have any other examples of sentences with superlative adjectives in their definite form? What about if we want so say “the fastest train” in Swedish. |
| Satsuki:Well, “train” is ‘Tåg’. |
| Alisha:And how do you say “fastest” in Swedish? |
| Satsuki:‘Snabbast’, but we need to add the ending ‘–e’ to change it to its definite form. |
| Alisha:So “the fastest train” in Swedish is? |
| Satsuki:‘Det snabbaste tåget’. |
| Alisha:Let gets our listeners to practice this! |
| Satsuki:Great idea! Listeners, repeat after me! |
| Satsuki:‘Det snabbaste tåget’.[pause] |
| Alisha:Ok, but there’s more to talk about here, because there’s an exception to this rule. You don't always add the ending ‘–e’ to make the superlative into its definite form. |
| Satsuki:Yes, that's right! If the superlative adjective ends in ‘–st’, which is common with some of the adjectives that are irregular like ‘störst’ meaning “biggest” and ‘bäst’ meaning “best”, they take the ending ‘–a’ when we change them into their definite form. |
| Alisha:Okay, let’s put one of those examples into a sentence. How would you say, “The biggest woman”? |
| Satsuki:The Swedish word for “woman” is ‘kvinnan’, and the superlative adjective “biggest” is ‘störrst’, but we need to add the ending ‘–a’. |
| Alisah So, “the biggest woman” is? |
| Satsuki:‘Den största kvinnan’. Now listeners repeat after me! ‘Den största kvinnan’. [pause] |
| Alisha:Okay, got it. And that’s all for this lesson, but make sure to check the lesson notes, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Satsuki:Yes, great work everyone! Hej då! |
| Alisha:Bye! |
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