Learn how to talk about the time
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Morten: Hej och välkomna. Welcome to SwedishPod101.com Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 12 - Telling the Time in Swedish. Morten, here. And with me as usual is? |
| Jasmine: Jasmine. Hej, allihopa. |
| Morten: In this lesson, we will introduce time telling in Swedish. |
| Jasmine: The conversation takes place at the Gothenburg University cafeteria at lunch time. |
| Morten: James is talking to Ewa, his Polish flatmate. |
| Jasmine: The situation is fairly casual. However James and Ewa are taking care to use correct standard expressions to tell time. Let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Ewa: Nu är det klockan 12. Klockan 12.30 måste jag till föreläsningen. |
| James: Jag har en paus till klockan 14 och sedan en kurs till kl 15.30. |
| Ewa: Ikväll går jag på bio kl 20. Så, jag måste hem innan affären stänger i Kallebäck, kl 18.30. |
| James: Jaha, då måste du vara tillbaka i staden kl 19.45. |
| Ewa: Ja, och sedan tar jag sista bussen hem kl 23.15. |
| James: Lycka till med allt! |
| Morten: And now, let's hear the slow version. |
| Jasmine: Och nu ska vi lyssna på den sakta versionen. |
| Ewa: Nu är det klockan 12. Klockan 12.30 måste jag till föreläsningen. |
| James: Jag har en paus till klockan 14 och sedan en kurs till kl 15.30. |
| Ewa: Ikväll går jag på bio kl 20. Så, jag måste hem innan affären stänger i Kallebäck, kl 18.30. |
| James: Jaha, då måste du vara tillbaka i staden kl 19.45. |
| Ewa: Ja, och sedan tar jag sista bussen hem kl 23.15. |
| James: Lycka till med allt! |
| Morten: And now with the translation. |
| Jasmine: Och nu med översättningen. |
| Ewa: Nu är det klockan 12. Klockan 12.30 måste jag till föreläsningen. |
| Morten: It's 12 o'clock now. At 12.30 I need to go to the lecture. |
| James: Jag har en paus till klockan 14 och sedan en kurs till kl 15.30. |
| Morten: I have a break until 2 o'clock and then a course until 3.30. |
| Ewa: Ikväll går jag på bio kl 20. Så, jag måste hem innan affären stänger i Kallebäck, kl 18.30. |
| Morten: In the evening I am going to the cinema at 8. So, I must be home before the shops close in Kallebäck at 6.30.* |
| James: Jaha, då måste du vara tillbaka i staden kl 19.45. |
| Morten: All right, and then you have to be back in town at 7.45. |
| Ewa: Ja, och sedan tar jag sista bussen hem kl 23.15. |
| Morten: Yes, and then I take the last bus home at 11.15. |
| James: Lycka till med allt! |
| Morten: Good luck with everything! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Morten: On the subject of time, let's talk a bit about working hours in Sweden. |
| Jasmine: Yeah, it's an important topic. Most Swedes work 40 hours or less per week. |
| Morten: Oh, that's not an awful lot compared to other countries. |
| Jasmine: No. And Swedes also have quite a few holidays. Most people have between 25 and 30 days of annual leave. |
| Morten: Wow, not bad. And Sweden is still quite a wealthy, productive country. |
| Jasmine: Yes, it is. For most Swedes, private life is the most important focus. |
| Morten: And work is a tool to make life more comfortable. Very sensible. |
| Jasmine: The epitome of this attitude is a Swedish national institution, fika. |
| Morten: Ahh, the famous coffee break. |
| Jasmine: Exactly, a break with coffee and often a bite to eat. |
| Morten: Swedes often have two fika breaks a day, don't they? |
| Jasmine: Well, it's really hard to generalize here, but yes, a lot of Swedes do. |
| Morten: It looks like working hours, the holidays and fika are the main threads in the Swedish social fabric. |
| Jasmine: You could say that. Swedes don't like unnecessary stress. |
| Morten: I like that attitude. And they're still very successful commercially. And now, let's take a look at the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| First we have. |
| Jasmine: Då [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Then (here, "in that case"). |
| Jasmine: Då [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Då [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Sedan [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Then, next. |
| Jasmine: Sedan [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Sedan [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Sist [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Last. |
| Jasmine: Sist [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Sist [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Klockan [natural native speed] |
| Morten: O'clock (lit. "the watch/clock") |
| Jasmine: Klockan [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Klockan [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Lycka till! [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Good luck! |
| Jasmine: Lycka till! [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Lycka till! [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: I dag [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Today. |
| Jasmine: I dag [slowly - broken down by syllable]. I dag [natural native speed] |
| Morten: And finally, we have. |
| Jasmine: Ikväll [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Tonight. |
| Jasmine: Ikväll [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ikväll [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Morten: Let's now take a close look at the vocab and phrases in this lesson. First up in this lesson, the word and phrase for a clock. |
| Jasmine: And the word is klockan. As for the phrase, please repeat it after me, klockan två. |
| Morten: Klockan två. Well done. So does klockan always mean a clock? |
| Jasmine: No, the word also translates into the watch or the clock. |
| Morten: I see, klockan is the definite form of the word, but how can tell weather someone is talking about the time or about a clock. |
| Jasmine: You'll know from the context. I'm sure you will. |
| Morten: Thanks. Next up, we have the first word that translates into English as then. |
| Jasmine: Yes, it's då. Here it means, in that case. |
| Morten: Does it always have that meaning? |
| Jasmine: Not exactly. Perhaps, but it's a good estimation. |
| Morten: You can start almost any Swedish phrase with it, can't you? |
| Jasmine: Yes. It just means that one situation is the case and now something else follows from it. |
| Morten: And what about the other word for then? |
| Jasmine: sedan. This always means something like next. |
| Morten: Hey, you use two different pronunciations there, as you did in the vocab section, how is that? |
| Jasmine: Sedan is the formal word. It is usually used in writing informal situations. |
| Morten: And how about informal situations with friends and family? |
| Jasmine: For informal situations, Sen is used. This can be used anywhere in anytime, but if you want to be super polite, then use Sedan. |
| Morten: Okay, thanks. But whether formal or informal if you are listing stuff, you could say Sen, Sedan after each thing. |
| Jasmine: Absolutely, Jag tar bussen, sedan går jag, sedan är jag på jobbet. |
| Morten: I take the bus, then I walk, then I'm at work. Brilliant. |
| Jasmine: And now it's a good time to introduce our next word. It's sist and it means last. |
| Morten: Sist, but isn't it Sista in the dialogue? |
| Jasmine: Good eye there. It became Sista in the dialogue because Swedish adjectives change form according to number and definiteness. |
| Morten: Hang on. So when it modifies a definite noun, the adjective ends in -a and when it modifies a plural noun, the same things happens. |
| Jasmine: Exactly. |
| Morten: Okay, but last but not the least, the Swedish for good luck, a useful phrase by any standard. |
| Jasmine: Yes, it is. The phrase is lycka till! And it can be used on its own or with something else. |
| Morten: Lycka till med allt as it says in our dialogue. |
Lesson focus |
| Now, let's take a look at the grammar section for this lesson. In our lesson focus, we're all about telling time in Swedish. |
| Jasmine: Yes and we'll offer lots of chances to the practice. |
| Morten: We'll also take a brief look at some pronunciation issues. |
| Jasmine: That's right. |
| Morten: Telling the time in Swedish isn't too hard, is it? How do you say two o'clock again? |
| Jasmine: klockan två. Please listen and repeat after me, klockan två. |
| Morten: Very good. How about 2.30? |
| Jasmine: Halv tre. Listen and repeat again, Halv tre. |
| Morten: Halv tre, okay. But didn't we say Fjorton och trettio before? Halv tre, has that the same meaning? |
| Jasmine: Yes, it does. In Swedish, there're two ways of saying half past. Like fjorton och trettio or Halv tre but it has the same meaning. |
| Morten: Wow, that's interesting. To express a half hour, you can say halv and then the next hour or alternatively you can say the hour and add trettio. |
| Jasmine: Yes, exactly opposite to the way English speakers say it, so watch out. |
| Morten: Yeah, please be on your guard here. By the way, does Sweden use the 24-hour system? |
| Jasmine: Well it varies. It is always used in writing, but sometimes when speaking about plans or starting and ending times, we also use it. |
| Morten: But you often just say halv två. |
| Jasmine: Correct and people will know from the context what you mean. |
| Morten: Okay. I suppose that's good enough for now. What about, say, 1.45? |
| Jasmine: You usually say kvart i två Listen and repeat, kvart i två. |
| Morten: And 2.15? |
| Jasmine: For 2.15, we usually say kvart över två Listen and repeat again, kvart över två. |
| Morten: And what would you say if it's a few minutes to or after the hour? |
| Jasmine: You just say the minutes, then i or över and then the hour. |
| Morten: So 1.50 is tio i två and 2.10 is tio över två. |
| Jasmine: Exactly, you say that out to the 20-minute mark. |
| Morten: So 20 till or 20 past, but hey, we haven't done 20 yet. |
| Jasmine: True, but from 20 past to 20 till, we use the half hour as our point of reference. |
| Morten: Oh. So for 2.25 you say fem i halv tre. |
| Jasmine: Just det. Listen and repeat again fem i halv tre. |
| Morten: Well done. And how about 2.35? |
| Jasmine: That's fem över halv tre. Listen and repeat again, fem över halv tre |
| Morten: Very good once again. Okay, let's recap a little. I'll give you the hour in English and you please say the time in Swedish. Let's start. Please say 3 o'clock. |
| Jasmine: Klockan tre. Now say 5 o'clock. |
| Morten: Klockan fem. Try, 3.30. |
| Jasmine: Halv fyra. and now 6.45. |
| Morten: Kvart i sju. Finally 9.15. |
| Jasmine: Kvart över nio. Very good, everybody. |
| Morten: That's a lot of grammar we just covered. Please do practice saying the time in Swedish as much as you can. |
| Jasmine: Yes, a very good idea indeed. Tack så mycket. |
| Morten: Just as a little addendum, let's take a look at the pronunciations of some peculiar vowel sounds. |
| Jasmine: Oh yes, a difficult but important pronunciations of Swedish U and Y. |
| Morten: For U, you round and protrude your lips, right? |
| Jasmine: Yes and for the Y, they're also rounded and protruded. |
| Morten: But for Y, you want to stretch the lips apart a bit and then protrude them upwards. |
| Jasmine: Yeah that way you almost have to produce the correct sound. Try it Y. |
| Morten: Y. Now, just make your lips round and stick them out for the U. |
| Jasmine: U. Lovely. Okay, that's it. Listeners, can you understand Swedish TV shows, movies or songs? |
| Morten: How about friends' or love ones' conversations in Swedish? |
| Jasmine: If you want to know what's going on, we have a tool to help. |
| Morten: Line-by-line audio. |
| Jasmine: Listen to the lesson conversations line by line and learn to understand natural Swedish fast. |
| Morten: It's simple really. |
| Jasmine: At the click of a button, listen to each line of the conversation. |
| Morten: Listen again and again and tune your ear to natural Swedish. |
| Jasmine: Rapidly understand natural Swedish with this powerful tool. |
| Morten: Find this feature on the lesson page under premium member resources at SwedishPod101.com. |
| Jasmine: Tack så mycket. |
| Morten: Yes, thanks for listening. And hejdå, till next time. |
| Jasmine: Hejdå |
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