Wednesday 24 October 2012

May I ask the Swedish teacher a question?

Of course! Teachers love questions! That is usually a very good sign of a thinking student.

We have maybe all been there: we have a question (or many) but we don't ask it because we are not comfortable in the classroom, we are worried the question is stupid or we simply don't want to be annoying. So here are some questions (including answers) that students have asked lately. Who knows, maybe you are sitting on the same! Could be worth scrolling through...

Do you conjugate Swedish verbs after person?

No. Unlike English, the Swedish verbs have the same form no matter the person: I am, you are, he is = Jag är, du är, han är.

Easy!

The conjugation group 3 of the Swedish verbs (the ones ending with a long vowel in imperative form (bo, må, sy...), do they always get double "d" in the form of the past tense?

Yes. Bo - bodde, må - mådde, sy - sydde

What is the Swedish word for the violin? I found 'fiol' and 'viol' written in the same book.

You can say both fiol (the most common) and violin (more formal and traditional) but never viol.


The word 'från' is pronounced as 'fran' rather than 'fron' Why is this? The letter å requires the lip rounding, doesn't it?

I'm not sure where you have heard this, but the word från is usually pronounced fron, although as a preposition not emphasized, so very unclear and fast. I wouldn't say that it's pronounced "fran" though.


What is the difference between åker and går?

We tend to use går = walk, what we do with our legs, and åker = go in some kind of transportation. The verb går can also be used in phrases where the way we are transported is less important: gå på bio, gå på restaurang, gå på teater...


Why is the last name Svensson (s sound) pronounced differently than Persson (sh sound)?

R + s (as in Persson) always gets an sh-sound.


If I say 'Jag är inte gift och jag har inte barn' Do I have to say 'inte' twice?

Yes, you have to repeat the sentence adverb (satsadverbial = inte).


Is this correct? 'Har du barn? Jag är gift men jag har inte barn'

Ja. You can, if you want, leave out the second subject (jag).


What is the difference if I say 'Pratar/talar du svenska?'

Not a big difference. Talar is a bit more formal.


I did not understand the difference between these two sentences from one of the videos:
Hur åker vi till Stockholm? / Hur ska vi åka till Stockholm?


Talking in future, we can use both present tense and with ska + infinitiv-verb. We use present tense especially when it is given that we talk in future, for example together with an adverb describing time: imorgon. To answer your question: there doesn't have to be a difference in meaning between these two sentences, although the first example could be for right now (in this very example not so common).
Feel free to ask more questions! You can do it through the comments here on the blog, on the facebook page on Twitter or by email. Swedish2go wants to help with your Swedish!

Simple Swedish! Yeah right...

Finally I'm blogging again, and finally about this (I said to myself and some others a week ago that I would put it up on this blog, but haven't gotten around to it until now):

Sense of humour is very cultural and individual. See if you have the Åsa-culture-sense of humour by watching this video about the Simple Swedish language (excuse the bad language once in a while):






Thursday 11 October 2012

Phu!

So has the new web page finally gone live. After long long nights, (oops I guess it's after midnight again!) the new, more functional web page is going.

The difference? It is hopefully easier to find your way around in, and easier to figure out how to do with what.

But if something is missing: please let me know. I have not thought of everything yet, and there are still things on the list of things to put up.

A web page is never done. So some feedback and input is always apreciated.

Tack och godnatt!

Monday 1 October 2012

A new option to learn Swedish

Swedish2go is adding on. The add-on is for all of you who for some reason can't make the fixed time for the hourly live Swedish lessons currently offered weekly.  Starting October 15th, you have the option to take part of the beginner - or the intermediate lessons whenever you want.

How?

Through a subscription, you can get access to the recorded 1 hour lessons. With one new lesson per week to view, you can follow a Swedish language course that easily fits your schedule regardless of the time and place. The only difference is that it isn't live, so the possibility to ask questions right there and then won't be available.  However, you will still have the possibility to ask the teacher questions through facebook or email and you'll get a response as soon as possible.

In addition to the recorded hourly lessons you will get access to the related tutorial grammar videos from Swedish2go and also a guide to free online self study material for you to practice what the teacher has gone through.

For 8 weeks you will be fed with one new lesson per week. However you will keep having access to your recorded lessons for another 4 weeks after that.

For more information take a look through our website at: www.swedish2go.com