The Focus of this Lesson is Talking about Past Experiences Using the Present Perfect and Adjectives
Hej! Har du arbetat på restaurang förut?
"Hi! Have you worked at a restaurant before?"

1. Perfekt, the Present Perfect in Swedish

We can use the present perfect to talk about situations that began before now, but continue into the present.

You'll notice the form of the perfect by the presence of har, "has" or "have," before the main verb and that the main verb is found in the supine or past form.

For example, Jag har redan ätit middag, meaning "I have already eaten dinner."

Ätit, "eaten," is the supine or past form of att äta, "to eat," and with har, "has, have," before it, the verb shows that the eating happened prior to (or before) now.

The auxiliary verb is in its present tense form (har), and the the main verb, on the other hand, is put into its supine form. Let's look at one more example.

1.      Jag har sovit.
               "I have slept."

In the dialogue, Lennart asks Annie, Har du arbetat på restaurang förut? meaning "Have you worked in a restaurant before?"

This is an example of the present perfect, in Swedish called perfekt, in a question form.

Notice how the structure is "have" har + "you" du + past participle of arbeta. It's in the present perfect because Lennart is asking Annie whether she has worked in a restaurant before now.

Annie answered:

1. Jag har arbetat på en snabbmats restaurang förut
   "I have worked in a fast-food restaurant before."

Here are some general examples of statements in the present perfect.

For example:

1.     Jag har redan ätit middag.
   "I have already eaten dinner."

The person has finished eating dinner not too long along ago; therefore, it is connected with the present.

1.     Elvis har lämnat byggnaden.
   "Elvis has left the building."

Here, news is being spread about what Elvis did; therefore, it is in the present perfect tense.

1.      Angelica har läst boken tre gånger redan.
   "Angelica has read the book three times already."

We describe the number of times Angelica has read the book in the present perfect because of its tie to the present.

1.     Vi har haft hunden sedan april.
   "We've had the dog since April."

The act of having the dog has continued up until now; therefore, it is in the present perfect.

2. Compound Adjectives to Describe Personality

Mixing words to create new adjectives

In Swedish we sometimes put two words together to make them into one new word with a stronger meaning. So if you learn these base words below, you can get a general idea of what the new word means.

Tålig

If you add the word -tålig to a noun, it describes someone or something who can handle negative things well.

• stresstålig meaning "to be able to handle stress" or "stress resistant"

To be stresstålig means to be able to cope with stress well.

• vattentålig meaning "water-resistant"

When you add -tålig to vatten, it means that the product can handle water well.

• stryktålig meaning "resistant to beating"

Stryktålig is used for either a person who can get beaten up without getting hurt easily, or a thing which you can be rough with, without it breaking.

For example:

1.      Jag skulle vilja köpa en vattentålig och stryktålig telefon.
               "I would like to buy a water-resistant and damage-resistant phone."

Morgon

There are some words which you can add to the word morgon "morning," to describe your personality in the morning. You may also use other times of the day.

• Morgontrött meaning "tired in the morning"

Morgontrött means that you are tired in the morning, and literally means "morning tired."

• Morgonpigg meaning "alert in the morning"

Morgonpigg means that it's easy for you to wake up in the morning and that you don't feel tired early in the morning. Pigg means "alert" or "lively."

For example:

1.      Jag är en morgonpigg människa, så jag vaknar alltid innan klockan fem.
              "I'm a morning person, so I always wake up before five."

You can also combine kväll, "evening," to make words like kvällspigg, "alert in the evening," or kvällstrött, "tired in the evening."

Glad

You use the word -glad after a noun to describe someone who happily does something or likes something.

• pratglad meaning "talkative" or "chatty"

We use this word when describing someone who likes talking, and does it a lot. Prat means "chat" or "talk," and glad means "glad" or "happy."

• matglad meaning "to like to eat" or "happy with food"

We use this word when describing someone who likes eating, and does it a lot. Mat means "food."

For example:

1.      Din flickvän är verkligen pratglad.
              "Your girlfriend is really talkative."

You can use almost any noun with -glad.

Examples from the dialogue:

1. Ja, jag har arbetat på en snabbmatsrestaurang förut, så jag är stresstålig och serviceinriktad.
   "Yes, I have worked in a fast food restaurant, so I can handle stress and I am service oriented."
2. Jag kan arbeta alla dagar i veckan, men helst inte tidiga morgonar. Jag är rätt så morgontrött.
   "I can work every day of the week, but I would rather not work early mornings. I am pretty tired in the morning."

Sample Sentences

1. Har du varit medlem i något band förut?
   "Have you been a member of a band before?"
2. Han är väldigt pratglad och trevlig.
   "He is very talkative and nice."
3. Jag har gått till skolan varje dag i tio år.
   "I've gone to school every day for ten years."

att söka "to apply for," "to search for"

Att söka literally means "to search," "to look," or "to seek." It can also mean "to apply for."

You can use att söka when you are looking for something, searching for something, or applying for a job. Att söka jobb literally means "to search for work," but is used more as "to apply for a job" or "to seek employment."

You can use this verb both for abstract and actual things. Jag söker efter min katt, "I am searching for my cat," and Jag söker meningen med livet, "I'm searching for the meaning of life," both use this phrase.

When this word means "to search" or "to look," it can sound a bit formal. Then you can use att leta instead. Jag letar efter dig would be "I am looking for you."

For example:

1.      Jag söker efter en trevlig man med humor.
              "I am searching for a nice man with a sense of humor."

att låta bra "to sound good"

Att låta means "to sound" and bra means "good."

You can use att låta bra both when you hear an idea that sounds good, or when you hear music that sounds nice.

You can also use att verka bra meaning "to seem good," in the sense of "the idea sounds good." Det verkar som en bra idé would be "That seems like a good idea."

For example:

1.      Jag tycker Pers förslag låter bra.
              "I think Per's suggestion sounds good."

helst inte "rather not "

Helst is an adverb and it means "best." Inte means "not." Put together, they mean "rather not."

You use this expression when you would prefer to not do something. It doesn't mean that you can't do it, just that you don't really want to.

You can answer a yes or no question with helst inte if you want to make your negation less strong.

For example:

1.   Jag äter helst inte varma mackor varje dag.
             "I'd rather not eat toast every day."

Part-time Jobs in Sweden

In Sweden, many students have part-time jobs. Common jobs are in restaurants or supermarkets. If you are under the age of 13, you cannot work between 22:00 and 6:00 in the morning. You are at most allowed to work 2 hours on a school day, and 7 hours on a school-free day. A person who is over the age of 16 can work up to 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. A person under the age of 18 is not allowed to work between midnight and 5:00 in the morning. They also must have a break after 4.5 hours of work. Sweden has strict laws that protect working young people. The salary is also pretty high for part-time jobs, even though the salary you get depends on your age. A 16-year-old might get around 60SEK an hour while a 20-year-old might get 110SEK an hour. If you don't earn more than 18,824 SEK a year as a youth, you don't have to pay taxes.

9 SEK = 1 EUR

8.5 SEK = 1 USD

*all data is from 2015

Useful expression:

1. kronor i timmen
   "crowns per hour"