Learn how to talk about someone's appearance or personality
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Engla: Hej allihopa! I’m Engla. |
| Gabriella: Hi everyone, I’m Gabriella. Welcome back to SwedishPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 10 - Do You Think That Swedish Girl is Cute? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about someone’s appearance or personality. |
| Engla: Yes, and the conversation takes place at Jens’s school. |
| Gabriella: It’s between Jens and his friend Erik, and they're using informal Swedish because they're friends. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jens: Har du sett Anders nya tjej? |
| Erik: Ja, hon är söt. |
| Jens: Söt?! Hon är jättesnygg! |
| Erik: Det tycker jag inte, men hon ser bättre ut än hans ex. |
| Jens: Ja, hon var ful. |
| Erik: Mmm. Hon var jätteful. |
| -With English Translation- |
| Jens: Har du sett Anders nya tjej? |
| : Have you seen Anders' new girlfriend? |
| Erik: Ja, hon är söt. |
| : Yes. She's cute. |
| Jens: Söt?! Hon är jättesnygg! |
| : Cute?! She's really good looking! |
| Erik: Det tycker jag inte, men hon ser bättre ut än hans ex. |
| : I don't think so, but she looks better than his ex. |
| Jens: Ja, hon var ful. |
| : Yes. She was ugly. |
| Erik: Mmm. Hon var jätteful. |
| : Mmm. She was really ugly. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella: I think it's great that we’ll learn to talk about someone’s appearance in this lesson, but I’m wondering what's acceptable to remark on when it comes to people’s appearance in Sweden? |
| Engla: That's a great question since it might differ from one culture to the next. |
| Gabriella: Yes, exactly. And I guess what's socially acceptable to comment on partly has to do with what's considered as attractive in a culture. |
| Engla: I think you’re right, and in Sweden, like many other western countries, being slim for women and fit for men is usually the ideal. |
| Gabriella: I see, so is it okay to remark on someone's weight if they are slim or fit then? |
| Engla: Yes, I would say that most would consider it as a compliment, and appreciate it. |
| Gabriella: That must also mean that it wouldn’t be appreciated if I tried to give a compliment to someone for their lovely round hips? |
| Engla: (laughs). No, I would really advise you against that, since someone may think you're either being sarcastic, or they'll just get offended. |
| Gabriella: What else is okay to make remarks on when it comes to people’s appearance? |
| Engla: If you want to give someone a compliment, you can always say something positive about their clothes, makeup, hair, jewelry, or their appearance in general. |
| Gabriella That’s good to know. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gabriella: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is… |
| Engla: att se [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to see |
| Engla: att se [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: att se [natural native speed] |
| Engla: ny [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: new |
| Engla: ny [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: ny [natural native speed] |
| Engla: tjej [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: girlfriend |
| Engla: tjej [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: tjej [natural native speed] |
| Engla: att vara [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to be |
| Engla: att vara [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: att vara [natural native speed] |
| Engla: söt [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: cute |
| Engla: söt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: söt [natural native speed] |
| Engla: jättesnygg [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: really good looking |
| Engla: jättesnygg [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: jättesnygg [natural native speed] |
| Engla: att tycka [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to think |
| Engla: att tycka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: att tycka [natural native speed] |
| Engla: bra [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: good, well |
| Engla: bra [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: bra [natural native speed] |
| Engla: ex [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: ex |
| Engla: ex [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: ex [natural native speed] |
| Engla: ful [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: ugly |
| Engla: ful [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: ful [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Engla: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we’ll have a look at is the word tjej. |
| Gabriella: Meaning “girlfriend.” |
| Engla: Yes, that’s how it was used in this lesson’s dialog. |
| Gabriella: Can it also mean something else? |
| Engla: Yes it also means “girl.” |
| Gabriella: And how will we know which one it means? |
| Engla: I think in most cases it's obvious from the context of the conversation. But if you want to make sure that no one misunderstands, you can use the word flickvän, which only means “girlfriend.” |
| Gabriella: Great! |
| Engla: Also, it's more common for younger people to use tjej when they're talking about their girlfriends. And it’s less likely to hear older people use that term. |
| Gabriella: I see. Now, what do we have next? |
| Engla: Next up is the word jättesnygg, meaning “really good looking.” |
| Gabriella: Okay, and this is just one word even if the English translation of the word is three words? |
| Engla: Yes, jättesnygg is one word that's constructed by putting the intensifier jätte, for "really," together with snygg, meaning "good looking." |
| Gabriella: I see. Can this word then be used to give a compliment to anyone? |
| Engla: Well, I don’t really think that there would be that many people who'd get upset if you told them they were really good looking, but of course it depends on the situation. |
| Gabriella: How do you say “cute” or “beautiful” in Swedish? |
| Engla: Söt is "cute," and vacker is "beautiful." |
| Gabriella: Perfect! Now what is the next word? |
| Engla: Next we have att tycka. |
| Gabriella: That is a really tricky verb to use. |
| Engla: Yes, it can be difficult for English speakers to get their head around. |
| Gabriella: So how do we use it correctly? |
| Engla: Well, it translates to English as “to think,” but it can't be used in all the ways the English verb “to think” can be used. In Swedish, we use att tycka when we want to express an opinion. |
| Gabriella: You mean when we want to say something like, “I think Anna is good looking”? |
| Engla: Yes, then we would say, Jag tycker att Anna är snygg. But you can't use it to say things like “I think Anna went home.” |
| Gabriella: So we can't use it to make guesses? |
| Engla: Right. For that we use the verb att tro. |
| Gabriella: I see. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about someone’s appearance or personality. To do that, we’ll use a verb that we've already encountered in a previous lesson. It’s the Swedish verb for “to be”? |
| Engla: And that’s att vara, or är in its present tense. |
| Gabriella: That’s the verb used several times by Jens and Erik in this lesson’s dialog, when they're talking about the appearance of Anders’s current and former girlfriends. |
| Engla: Yes. For example, Erik says, Hon är söt, meaning “She's cute.” |
| Gabriella: I remember that! Let’s practice saying that once. Listeners, please repeat after Engla. |
| Engla: Hon är söt. |
| Gabriella: Erik also says, “She's really good looking.” |
| Engla: Yes. |
| Gabriella: How would you say that in Swedish? |
| Engla: Hon är jättesnygg. Listeners, repeat after me please. Hon är jättesnygg. |
| Gabriella: Great, but how do we form these kind of sentences so that we can describe someone’s appearance? |
| Engla: We’ll use the same sentence structure as in the two examples from this lesson’s dialog. |
| Gabriella: Which means that the sentence starts with a personal pronoun… |
| Engla: ...such as hon (for "she") or “han” (for "he.") |
| Gabriella: And then? |
| Engla: After that, we have the present tense of the verb att vara, which is är. |
| Gabriella: At the end of the sentence we’ll use an adjective that describes someone’s appearance or personality. So we can start the sentence with a personal pronoun followed by the present tense of the Swedish verb “to be”... |
| Engla: ...which is är. |
| Gabriella: This is then followed by an adjective that describes someone’s appearance or personality. |
| Engla: Correct! |
| Gabriella: Maybe we should spend some time talking about Swedish personal pronouns. |
| Engla: Sounds like a good idea. Some of them we have already covered in previous lessons. |
| Gabriella: Which ones? |
| Engla: Well, first we have jag, meaning "I." |
| Gabriella: Yes, that one I remember. |
| Engla: Then we have han, meaning “he,” and then hon, meaning “she.” |
| Gabriella: Yes, those sound familiar as well, but I've heard that you also have a personal pronoun that is gender neutral. |
| Engla: Yes, that's right. We also have a new personal pronoun hen, which doesn’t denote the gender of the person it refers to. |
| Gabriella: I guess it’s kind of similar to “it.” |
| Engla: Yes, but it’s always used to refer to a human being and never an object. |
| Gabriella: Great! Now that we've looked at some of the Swedish personal pronouns, maybe we should practice using them to form sentences that either describe someone's appearance or their personality. |
| Engla: Okay, let’s start by forming a sentence with the personal pronoun jag and the adjective smart, meaning "smart." |
| Gabriella: You mean to say “I’m smart”? |
| Engla: Exactly! |
| Gabriella: Okay and how do you say that in Swedish? |
| Engla: Jag är smart. Listeners, repeat after me please. Jag är smart. (pause) |
| Gabriella: How do you say, “He is ugly”? |
| Engla: “He” is han, and “ugly” is ful. So you'd say, Han är ful. |
| Gabriella: Listeners, repeat after Engla. |
| Engla: Han är ful. |
| Gabriella: How would you say, “She is stupid”? |
| Engla: “She” is hon, and “stupid” is dum. So it's Hon är dum. Listeners, please repeat after me. Hon är dum. |
| Gabriella: Okay, now I want to use the gender neutral personal pronoun and the adjective for “charming.” |
| Engla: The gender neutral personal pronoun is hen, and “charming” in Swedish is charmig, so you would say Hen är charmig. |
| Gabriella: Listeners, repeat after Engla. |
| Engla: Hen är charmig. |
| Gabriella: I also have a question. |
| Engla: Sure! |
| Gabriella: Is it possible to change the personal pronoun in the sentence structure we’ve been learning to a name? |
| Engla: Absolutely! |
| Gabriella: So how would you say, “Anna is smart”? |
| Engla: Anna är smart. Listeners please repeat after me. Anna är smart. |
| Gabriella: How about “Jens is ugly”? |
| Engla: Jens är ful. Listeners repeat after me please. Jens är ful. (pause) |
| Gabriella: Okay, and finally, “Kerstin is stupid.” |
| Engla: Kerstin är dum. |
| Gabriella: Listeners, please repeat after Engla. |
| Engla: Kerstin är dum. |
| MARKETING PIECE |
| Engla: Dear listeners, ever pressed for time? |
| Gabriella: Listen to the Dialogue Lesson Recap! |
| Engla: These audio tracks only contain the target lesson dialogue. |
| Gabriella: So you can quickly recap a lesson. |
| Engla: Spend a few minutes learning on days when you don’t have time to study a full lesson. |
| Gabriella: The audio tracks are just a few minutes long... |
| Engla: but you’ll still pick up key Swedish phrases along the way. |
| Gabriella: Go to SwedishPod101.com, |
| Engla: and listen to this lesson’s dialogue only audio track. |
Outro |
| Gabriella: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Please remember to check out the lesson notes to learn more adjectives that can be used to describe someone’s appearance or personality. |
| Gabriella: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time, bye! |
| Engla: Great work everyone! Hej då! |
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