Learn to talk about how something smells
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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 21 - What Do You Think of THis Swedish Perfume? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to describe how something smells. |
| Engla: Yes, and the conversation takes place at Anna’s school. |
| Gabriella: The conversation is between Anna and her friend Robert, and they're using informal Swedish. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Anna: Vad är det som luktar? |
| Robert: Det är min nya parfym. Visst luktar den gott. |
| Anna: Ja den luktar gott. Jag har också en ny parfym. Lukta. Vad tycker du? |
| Robert: Nej! Usch! Den luktar illa! |
| Anna: Va? |
| -With English Translation- |
| Anna: Vad är det som luktar? |
| Gabriella: What's that smell? |
| Robert: Det är min nya parfym. Visst luktar den gott. |
| Gabriella: It's my new perfume. Doesn't it smell nice? |
| Anna: Ja den luktar gott. Jag har också en ny parfym. Lukta. Vad tycker du? |
| Gabriella: Yes, it smells nice. I also have new perfume. Smell it. What do you think? |
| Robert: Nej! Usch! Den luktar illa! |
| Gabriella: No! Yuck! It smells bad! |
| Anna: Va? |
| Gabriella: What? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella: Anna and Robert really seem to be into discussing their perfumes? Tell me Engla, are Swedes very concerned about their appearance and personal hygiene? |
| Engla: Yes, I would say that they generally are, and things, like showering regularly, using a deodorant, and changing clothes, is seen as important. |
| Gabriella: I see. |
| Engla: In fact, a recent study shows that Swedes on average shower 5.5 times a week, and that almost 40 percent shower every day. |
| Gabriella: Isn’t that too much? |
| Engla: Yes, specialists have recommended that three to four times per week is enough. |
| Gabriella: Do women and men shower equally often? |
| Engla: No, in fact, men shower more often than women. |
| Gabriella: Hmm...it almost sounds like Swedes are over-hygienic. |
| Engla: Yes, and this is probably a behavior that has increased over the years, because the amount of money that Swedes spend on hygiene products such as shower gels, shampoos, and deodorant has almost doubled between the years of 1997 and 2005. |
| Gabriella: I see. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gabriella: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is… |
| Engla: att lukta [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to smell |
| Engla: att lukta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: att lukta [natural native speed] |
| Engla: vad [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: what |
| Engla: vad [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: vad [natural native speed] |
| Engla: ny [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: new |
| Engla: ny [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: ny [natural native speed] |
| Engla: parfym [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: parfume |
| Engla: parfym [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: parfym [natural native speed] |
| Engla: gott [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: nice |
| Engla: gott [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: gott [natural native speed] |
| Engla: också [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: also |
| Engla: också [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: också [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: usch [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: yuck |
| Engla: usch [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: usch [natural native speed] |
| Engla: illa [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: bad |
| Engla: illa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: illa [natural native speed] |
| Engla: den/det [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: it |
| Engla: den/det [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Engla: den/det [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 talk about is the interjection usch, meaning “yuck”. |
| Gabriella: I guess that one is good to know if you ever find yourself in a situation where you want to show that you feel disgusted. |
| Engla: That’s right! |
| Gabriella: I've also heard another way of doing this. |
| Engla: Maybe you are thinking about blä, which also means “yuck”? |
| Gabriella: That’s the one. |
| Engla: That one can also be good to know, but remember that using blä might sound a bit childish, since this is often used by younger kids when they don’t like their food. |
| Gabriella: Okay, I’ll stick to the first one then. Now, what do we have next? |
| Engla: Next, we have the word den or det. |
| Gabriella: And these words are actually the same word, but we use them differently depending on whether they're referring to a common gender noun or a neuter gender noun, right? |
| Engla: Correct! But den and det can also be used as pronouns as well as articles. |
| Gabriella: Okay? |
| Engla: When they're pronouns, they correspond to the English “it” or “that”, and are used in sentences like Den är trasig, meaning "It’s broken". |
| Gabriella: And when they're an article? |
| Engla: When they're articles they correspond to the English “the,” but they're only used before an adjective that describes a noun—for example, in sentences like Det gula huset, meaning "The yellow house". |
| Gabriella: I see. So we don’t use it to say “the house”? |
| Engla: Exactly! |
| Gabriella: Great, and the final word is? |
| Engla: The final word is the word illa. |
| Gabriella: Meaning “badly” or “poorly”. |
| Engla: Yes, and it’s good to memorise the meaning of this word because it appears in a lot of Swedish phrases. |
| Gabriella: Phrases? |
| Engla: Yes, phrases like må illa, meaning "feel bad", ligga illa till, meaning "be in trouble," and råka illa ut, meaning "get into trouble". |
| Gabriella: I see! Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about how something smells. |
| Engla: That’s correct, and the first thing we’ll do is learn two very simple and generic ways of commenting on how something smells. |
| Gabriella: You must mean saying things like “It smells nice” and “It smells bad”? |
| Engla: Yes, and these ways of talking about how something smells were used in this lesson’s dialog. |
| Gabriella: So how do you say, “It smells nice” in Swedish? |
| Engla: Det luktar gott. |
| Gabriella: How about we get our listeners to practice saying that? |
| Engla: Sure! Listeners, please repeat after me. Det luktar gott. |
| Gabriella: Great! How do we instead say, “It smells bad”? |
| Engla: Then you say, Det luktar illa. (slow) Det luktar illa. |
| Gabriella: So these sentences we can use for pretty much anything right? |
| Engla: Exactly! You can use them when you talk about the smell of food, bathrooms, laundry, flowers, or perfume. |
| Gabriella: That’s good, but what if I want to be a bit more specific? |
| Engla: That’s a good question, and being a bit more specific when we talk about how something smells is actually quite easy. |
| Gabriella: Really? |
| Engla: Yes, we can still use the Det luktar part that means "it smells," and then we just use a noun that describes the specific smell we want to talk about. |
| Gabriella: You mean we can say things like “It smells like roses”? |
| Engla: Yes, and since “roses” in Swedish is rosor, you'd say, Det luktar rosor. |
| Gabriella: How about we try another one. |
| Engla: Sure! |
| Gabriella: How do you say, “It smells like vanilla” in Swedish? |
| Engla: You would say, Det luktar vanilj. |
| Gabriella: Okay, let’s try a final one. How do you say, “It smells like sweat”? |
| Engla: That would be Det luktar svett. |
| Gabriella: Great! Is it also possible to use some other adjectives instead of a noun? |
| Engla: Yes, there are some adjectives you can use. |
| Gabriella: Such as? |
| Engla: Well you could, for example, use the adjective surt, meaning “sour,” to say Det luktar surt or "It smells sour." |
| Gabriella: Could you also say things like "It smells pungent."? |
| Engla: Yes, and in Swedish that would be Det luktar fränt. |
| Gabriella: Okay, let me try a final one. |
| Engla: Sure! |
| Gabriella: How would you say, “It smells sweet”? |
| Engla: Det luktar sött. |
Outro |
| Gabriella: Great! I think that's all for now. Remember to check the lesson notes to reinforce what you’ve learned in this lesson. |
| Engla: Great work everyone! |
| Gabriella: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Engla: Or hej då, as you'd say in Swedish! |
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