Learn how to change singular indefinite nouns to definite singular nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Elin: Hej allihopa! I’m Elin. |
| Becky: Hi everyone, I’m Becky. Welcome back to SwedishPod101.com. This is Upper Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 16 - A Swedish Shopping Spree. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to change indefinite singular nouns to definite singular nouns. |
| Elin: The conversation takes place in Emma and David’s apartment. |
| Becky: It’s between Emma and her partner David and they’re using informal Swedish, since they are a couple. |
| Elin: Great! Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Emma: David, jag ska åka och handla. Vad behöver vi? |
| David: Mjölken är slut, så köp lite mjölk. |
| Emma: Okej. Något annat? |
| David: Kaffet är slut, så köp lite kaffe också. |
| Emma: Något annat? |
| David: Köp en blomma, eftersom blomman i köket dog. |
| Emma: Jag ska till Systembolaget. Är det något du vill ha? Lite vin kanske? |
| David: Vinet vi drack i helgen var gott. Köp en flaska av det. |
| Becky: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Emma: David, jag ska åka och handla. Vad behöver vi? |
| David: Mjölken är slut, så köp lite mjölk. |
| Emma: Okej. Något annat? |
| David: Kaffet är slut, så köp lite kaffe också. |
| Emma: Något annat? |
| David: Köp en blomma, eftersom blomman i köket dog. |
| Emma: Jag ska till Systembolaget. Är det något du vill ha? Lite vin kanske? |
| David: Vinet vi drack i helgen var gott. Köp en flaska av det. |
| Becky: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Emma: David, jag ska åka och handla. Vad behöver vi? |
| Emma: David, I’m going to the store to shop. What do we need? |
| David: Mjölken är slut, så köp lite mjölk. |
| David: The milk is finished, so buy some milk. |
| Emma: Okej. Något annat? |
| Emma: Okay. Something else? |
| David: Kaffet är slut, så köp lite kaffe också. |
| David: The coffee is finished, so buy some coffee. |
| Emma: Något annat? |
| Emma: Anything else? |
| David: Köp en blomma, eftersom blomman i köket dog. |
| David: Buy a flower, since the flower in the kitchen died. |
| Emma: Jag ska till Systembolaget. Är det något du vill ha? Lite vin kanske? |
| Emma: I’m going to Systembolaget. Is there something you would like? Some wine, perhaps? |
| David: Vinet vi drack i helgen var gott. Köp en flaska av det. |
| David: The wine we drank this weekend was tasty. Buy a bottle of that. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Elin: Emma has to get quite a few things from the store! |
| Becky: Yes. And there is one thing David asked Emma to buy that I’m wondering about. |
| Elin: What is that? |
| Becky: It’s the coffee, and the reason I’m wondering is that I’ve heard Swedes really drink a lot of coffee. Is that true? |
| Elin: Yes it is! Sweden actually ranks second in the world, when it comes to coffee consumption per person. |
| Becky: Really! I mean I heard that it was a lot, but I didn’t know it was that much! |
| Elin: Well Swedes really loves their coffee, and it’s not uncommon for a Swede to have 4 or 5 cups a day. |
| Becky: I guess that you have a lot of coffee shops in Sweden then. |
| Elin: Yes and no. Coffee shops have become more common and popular the last couple of years, and Swedes have started drinking more espresso, cafe lattes and cappuccinos. But the majority of the coffee that Swedes drink, is either made at home, or at work. |
| Becky: And how do Swedes drink their coffee? Black? With milk, or with sugar? |
| Elin: It varies, but a lot of Swedes prefer their coffee without sugar, and with a dash of cold milk. |
| Becky: Ok, let’s move on to the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is... |
| Elin: vi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: we |
| Elin: vi [slowly - broken down by syllable] vi [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next |
| Elin: mjölk [natural native speed] |
| Becky: milk |
| Elin: mjölk [slowly - broken down by syllable] mjölk [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next |
| Elin: slut [natural native speed] |
| Becky: finished |
| Elin: slut [slowly - broken down by syllable] slut [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next |
| Elin: kaffe [natural native speed] |
| Becky: coffee |
| Elin: kaffe [slowly - broken down by syllable] kaffe [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next |
| Elin: blomma [natural native speed] |
| Becky: flower |
| Elin: blomma [slowly - broken down by syllable] blomma [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next |
| Elin: kök [natural native speed] |
| Becky: kitchen |
| Elin: kök [slowly - broken down by syllable] kök [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next |
| Elin: att dö [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to die |
| Elin: att dö [slowly - broken down by syllable] att dö [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next |
| Elin: god [natural native speed] |
| Becky: tasty |
| Elin: god [slowly - broken down by syllable] god [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next |
| Elin: helg [natural native speed] |
| Becky: weekend |
| Elin: helg [slowly - broken down by syllable] helg [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last... |
| Elin: flaska [natural native speed] |
| Becky: bottle |
| Elin: flaska [slowly - broken down by syllable] flaska [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Elin: First up is the adjective “slut”, which in the dialog is used to mean “finish”. |
| Becky: Can this adjective also be used when we want to talk about something or someone being exhausted? For example, if you wanted to say something like, “I have worked all day. I’m completely exhausted”? |
| Elin: Yes, and then you would say, “jag har jobbat hela dagen. Jag är helt slut”. |
| Becky: I see. And how would you say,”my legs are exhausted after the long walk”? |
| Elin: That’s,”mina ben är helt slut efter den långa promenaden”. |
| Becky: Ok, what’s next? |
| Elin: The adjective “god”, which means “tasty”. |
| Becky: I was wondering about that, because it’s used in this lesson’s dialog, when David says, “The wine we drank this weekend was tasty”, but it doesn't sound exactly like you’re pronouncing it now. |
| Elin: That’s right. David says,”vinet vi drack i helgen var gott”. He uses the form “gott” instead of “god”. The ending is different, because the adjective “god” is referring to the neuter gender noun “vinet”, meaning “the wine”. |
| Becky: But we’ll leave that for now, because that’s something that we’ll cover in more detail in an upcoming lesson. |
| Elin: So instead, let’s talk about how the adjective “god”, can be used to mean “good”. |
| Becky: Do you have any examples of sentences where it means “good”? |
| Elin: Of course! If you wanted to say, “Annika is a good swimmer”, then you would say, “Annika är en god simmare”. |
| Becky: How would you say something like, “in fairy tales, there are evil witches and good witches”? |
| Elin: That’s,”i sagornas värld, finns det onda häxor och goda häxor”. |
| Elin: Great! Now, let’s move on to the grammar! |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson you’ll learn how to change indefinite singular nouns to definite singular nouns. The difference between an indefinite noun and a definite noun, is that an indefinite noun does not refer to a specific object, while a definite noun does refer to a specific object. |
| Elin: That’s right! For example, “en fest” meaning “a party” is an example of an indefinite noun, while “festen” meaning “the party”, is a definite noun. |
| Becky: Now, let’s talk a bit about the difference between common and neuter gender nouns in Swedish. |
| Elin: Sure! In Swedish, you have the common gender nouns, and they’re sometimes also called “en-noun”. |
| Becky: Why’s that? |
| Elin: That’s because the indefinite particle “en” comes before them. |
| Becky: And what about the neuter gender nouns? |
| Elin: Those are sometimes referred to as, “ett-noun”. |
| Becky: Let me guess, because they’re preceded by the indefinite particle “ett”? |
| Elin: That’s right! The problem with common and neuter gender nouns, is that there are no real rules to tell them apart. |
| Becky: So we just have to memorize which one is which? |
| Elin: That’s right. But common gender nouns make up about 75 percent, while neuter gender nouns are only about 25 percent. |
| Becky: Ok, good to know. Now let’s move on to look at the rules for how to change the indefinite singular nouns to definite singular nouns. We’ll start by looking at the common gender nouns that end in a consonant in their indefinite singular. Elin, how can we change them into their definite singular? |
| Elin: By adding the ending -en. So the common gender noun “en mjölk” meaning “a milk” changes to “mjölken” meaning “the milk”. |
| Becky: That was easy! But let’s get our listeners to practice that one! |
| Elin: Ok, listeners repeat after me! |
| Elin: “En mjölk” [pause], “mjölken” [pause]. |
| Becky: Do you have any other examples of common gender nouns that end in a consonant, in their indefinite singular form? |
| Elin: Of course! We also have, “en båt” meaning “a boat”. |
| Becky: To change that into its definite singular form, we simply add the ending “-en”. |
| Elin: That’s right! So “en båt”(a boat), becomes “båten” meaning “the boat”. Listeners repeat after me! |
| Elin: “en båt” [pause], “båten”[pause]. |
| Becky: Now, let’s move on to common gender nouns that end in an unstressed vowel in their indefinite singular form. What ending do they take to form the definite singular form? |
| Elin: They take the ending -n, “n”. So “en blomma” (a flower) changes to “blomman” (the flower). Listeners, repeat after me! |
| Elin: “En blomma” [pause], “blomman” [pause]. |
| Becky: Doesn't the Swedish noun “a street” also belong to this group? |
| Elin: Yes it does, and “a street” is “en gata”. So to change it to its definite singular form, we just need add the ending “-n”. So “en gata” meaning “a street” becomes “gatan” meaning “the street”. Listeners, repeat after me! |
| Elin: “En gata”[pause], “gatan” [pause]. |
| Becky: Now for neuter gender nouns that end in a consonant, the indefinite singular noun takes the ending “-et” to make it a definite singular form. What are some neuter gender nouns from this group? |
| Elin: Here we have “ett kaffe” meaning “a coffee” and “ett glas” meaning “a glas”. |
| Becky: Ok, but isn’t there something strange about ett kaffe? |
| Elin: Actually, yes. Usually when you use the word in its indefinite form, you will say “en kaffe”. |
| Becky: Right - if you’re ordering a cup of coffee in a restuarnt, you will say, “en kaffe.” The word itself is neuter, however, so for this lesson, we will use “ett kaffe” even though it’s a rather uncommon form. |
| Elin: “Ett kaffe” meaning “a coffee” becomes “kaffet” meaning “the coffee”. Listeners, repeat after me! |
| Elin: “Ett kaffe” [pause], “kaffet” [pause]. |
| Becky: How about “a glass”? |
| Elin: “Ett glas” (a glass) changes to “glaset” meaning “the glass”. Listeners, repeat after me! |
| Elin: “Ett glas” [pause], “glaset” [pause]. |
| Becky: Finally, we have neuter nouns that end in an unstressed vowel, and here the indefinite singular noun takes the ending “-t” to make it the definite singular form. Here we have nouns such as “an apple” and “a birthmark”. |
| Elin: And “an apple” in Swedish is “ett äpple” and “a birthmark” is “ett födelsemärke”. “Ett äpple” (an apple) becomes “äpplet” (the apple). Listeners, repeat after me! |
| Elin: “Ett äpple” [pause], “äpplet” [pause]. |
| Becky: And how about “a birthmark”? |
| Elin: “Ett födelsemärke” (a birthmark) becomes “födelsemärket” (the birthmark). Listeners, repeat after me! |
| Elin: “Ett födelsemärke” [pause], “födelsemärket” [pause]. |
| Becky: Ok. Remember to check the lesson notes to reinforce what you’ve learned in this lesson. |
Outro |
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| Becky: Okay that’s it for this lesson. Thanks for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Elin: Hej då! |
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