Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Morten: Welcome to SwedishPod101.com Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 18 - Grocery Shopping in Swedish: The Essentials. Hej och välkomna, this Morten.
Jasmine: Hej, allihopa. I'm Jasmine.
Morten: In this lesson, we are looking at grocery shopping in Sweden using Swedish of course.
Jasmine: We are in a supermarket on Mölndalsvägen near the halls, our main characters live in.
Morten: James is there with Ewa in the early evening.
Jasmine: They're discussing what they need to buy.
Morten: Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

James: Så, vi behöver mjölk, ägg, ost och toapapper ...
Ewa: Hurså? Är det slut IGEN? Jag tror vi behöver också juice och bröd.
James: Bröd handlade jag igår. Hälften är i frysen.
Ewa: Och hur är det med frukt och grönsaker?
James: Vill du laga nyttig mat åt oss? Vad bra.
Ewa: Jo ... nej, egentligen inte. Jag vet, Flingor behöver vi också.
James: Ja, just det. Jag hoppas det var allt nu.
Ewa: Jag med, vi måste ju bära hem allt.
Morten: And now, let's listen to the slow version.
Jasmine: Och nu ska vi lyssna på den sakta versionen.
James: Så, vi behöver mjölk, ägg, ost och toapapper ...
Ewa: Hurså? Är det slut IGEN? Jag tror vi behöver också juice och bröd.
James: Bröd handlade jag igår. Hälften är i frysen.
Ewa: Och hur är det med frukt och grönsaker?
James: Vill du laga nyttig mat åt oss? Vad bra.
Ewa: Jo ... nej, egentligen inte. Jag vet, Flingor behöver vi också.
James: Ja, just det. Jag hoppas det var allt nu.
Ewa: Jag med, vi måste ju bära hem allt.
Morten: And now with the English translation.
Jasmine: Och nu med den engelska översättningen.
James: Så, vi behöver mjölk, ägg, ost och toapapper ...
Morten: OK, we need milk, eggs, cheese and toilet paper...
Ewa: Hurså? Är det slut IGEN? Jag tror vi behöver också juice och bröd.
Morten: How come? Are we out AGAIN? I think we also need juice and bread. James
James: Bröd handlade jag igår. Hälften är i frysen.
Morten: And what about fruit and vegetables?
Ewa: Och hur är det med frukt och grönsaker?
Morten: Are you going to cook something healthy for us? Good.
James: Vill du laga nyttig mat åt oss? Vad bra.
Morten: Well...no, not really. I know, we also need cereal.
Ewa: Jo ... nej, egentligen inte. Jag vet, Flingor behöver vi också.
Morten: Yes, that's right, I hope that was everything now.
James: Ja, just det. Jag hoppas det var allt nu.
Morten: So do I, especially since we have to carry everything home.
Ewa: Jag med, vi måste ju bära hem allt.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Morten: Right, grocery shopping at a supermarket in Sweden, it can't be that different from anywhere else.
Jasmine: Maybe you're right. However, it's good to know a thing or two about Swedish supermarkets.
Morten: I hear it used to be an oligopoly of three big chains.
Jasmine: That's correct, but those days are over. Now there are cheap supermarkets from Denmark or Germany offering more choice.
Morten: And there are also Swedish alternatives, right?
Jasmine: Exactly, if you live on a budget, places like Matex or PrisXtra alongside with German Lidl and Danish Netto are good places to go.
Morten: But even the major chains like ICA, Konsum and Coop are options.
Jasmine: Yes, they are. They often have big supermarkets outside of the city centers.
Morten: So they're open longer and offer a wider range of goods.
Jasmine: And they're not necessarily more expensive.
Morten: How about foreign foods like Asian, Middle Eastern and such?
Jasmine: You can find them, but they're less common than in Mainland Europe.
Morten: Often, you can find local shops where such goods are sold, right?
Jasmine: Yes. And they also often have good prices for fresh produce.
VOCAB LIST
Morten: And now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First, we have.
Jasmine: Mjölk [natural native speed]
Morten: Milk.
Jasmine: Mjölk [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Mjölk [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: ägg [natural native speed]
Morten: Egg.
Jasmine: ägg [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ägg [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: Ost [natural native speed]
Morten: Cheese.
Jasmine: Ost [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ost [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: Behöva [natural native speed]
Morten: To need.
Jasmine: Behöva [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Behöva [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: Handla [natural native speed]
Morten: To grocery shop.
Jasmine: Handla [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Handla [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: Bröd [natural native speed]
Morten: Bread.
Jasmine: Bröd [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Bröd [natural native speed]
Morten: Next, we have.
Jasmine: Frukt [natural native speed]
Morten: Fruit.
Jasmine: Frukt [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Frukt [natural native speed]
Morten: And next, we have.
Jasmine: Grönsak [natural native speed]
Morten: Vegetable.
Jasmine: Grönsak [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Grönsak [natural native speed]
Morten: And finally, we have.
Jasmine: Mat [natural native speed]
Morten: Food.
Jasmine: Mat [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Mat [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Morten: Let's take a closer look at the words and phrases for this lesson. There's one phrase in this lesson that is very versatile and easily applicable.
Jasmine: It is a little reaction word, Hurså?
Morten: Meaning something along the lines of how come or what.
Jasmine: Hurså? is usually an expression of surprise.
Morten: Okay. As in we don't need any bread today, Vi behöver inget bröd idag.
Jasmine: To which I might say, Hurså, because I wasn't aware that somebody had bought some.
Morten: Okay, let's try that again, this time with our listeners participating. Vi behöver inget bröd idag.
Jasmine: Hurså? very good.
Morten: It's also worth noting that unlike the English what, Hurså doesn't bear any inherent aggressiveness.
Jasmine: That's right. It's a pretty neutral expression. A lot more like how come.
Morten: And it is freely combinable with other words. It can stand on its own at a beginning of a sentence or it can participate in the sentence as an adverb.
Jasmine: That's what it's doing in this sentence, Hurså, behöver vi inget bröd? Har du handlat?
Morten: How come? Don't we need any bread? Have you been shopping.
Jasmine: Next stop are some vocab words that need our attention.
Morten: First is mat an utrum word.
Jasmine: It means food in general, but it can also refer specifically to a meal.
Morten: And it's often used in its definite form Maten.
Jasmine: Yup. Next, we have the verb handla, to grocery shop.
Morten: Or to do the shopping. What's so special about this verb?
Jasmine: Well it's just that it's often used for grocery shopping.
Morten: Correct. There is another word used for shopping for other things like clothes or big things, but we'll look at that another time.
Jasmine: We sure will. So when you use Handla use it for everyday items like the ones in our dialogue.
Morten: You might have noticed that the dialogue included toilet paper, so handla isn't just for food.
Jasmine: No, it's for products we use everyday.
Morten: Got it. Finally, we'd like to take a look at the verb Behöva.
Jasmine: But since it is more of a grammatical than a phrasal or vocab issue…
Morten: …we'll look at it in the lesson focus. So far so good.
Jasmine: Excellent work, everyone.

Lesson focus

Morten: And now, let's take a look at the grammar for this lesson. As we mentioned, we'll be looking at the verb Behöva.
Jasmine: And we'll take a peak at two important quantifying indefinite pronouns, många and mycket.
Morten: Let's do Behlöva first.
Jasmine: It means to need something. And it can be used as a stand-alone verb or as a modal with another verb.
Morten: That's right. You can use it with almost any noun to say that you need that noun.
Jasmine: And you can use it with a verb to say you need to do that verb. In that case, you need to use the verb to do in the infinitive just like in English.
Morten: But let's take a look at some examples and practice them first.
Jasmine: We start by using Behöva with a noun.
Morten: Jag behöver tid, I need time.
Jasmine: Please listen and repeat after me, Jag behöver tid.
Morten: Very good. This is pretty common way to ask for more time to complete something.
Jasmine: Jag behöver en öl, I need a beer.
Morten: Very straight forward. Here, you're craving something concrete.
Jasmine: Listen and repeat after me, Jag behöver en öl.
Morten: Nice one. How about when you need something more abstract?
Jasmine: Jag behöver ro, I need peace and quiet.
Morten: Please listen and repeat. Jag behöver ro.
Jasmine: Excellent work. Let's recap a little. If you want to say you need time.
Morten: In Swedish, you say?
Jasmine: Jag behöver tid, that's right.
Morten: Or you're craving a beer, so you say?
Jasmine: Jag behöver en öl, well done.
Morten: Now it's time to use Behöva with other verbs like handla.
Jasmine: Jag behöver handla. I need to do some shopping.
Morten: In English a verb's infinitive acts like a noun as the direct object of the verb to need and that's exactly what's going on with Behöva in Swedish.
Jasmine: The handla after behöva is a verb. But it's used as a noun in the infinitive to show the thing you need.
Morten: Let's practice this sentence once more, Jag behöver handla.
Jasmine: Good work, people.
Morten: Now, let's kick it up a notch, Han behöver tänka på framtiden.
Jasmine: He needs to think about the future. This time behöva comes before an entire phrase.
Morten: He needs to do some thinking, tänka på framtiden.
Jasmine: The whole verb phrase Tänka på framtiden, got turned into a noun, didn't it?
Morten: That's exactly right. That way it can become a direct object of Behöva.
Jasmine: So those are two ways you use behöva, as a verb before a noun when you need something and as a modal before another verb when you need to do something.
Morten: Understood. The next thing we'll look at is quantifying indefinite pronouns.
Jasmine: Wow, that's a mouthful, but it really isn't so complicated especially not for English speakers.
Morten: That's true. But the two definite pronouns Många and Mycket refer to large quantities of something.
Jasmine: Since they're indefinite, we don't know exactly the extent, but we know it's a lot.
Morten: Their English counterparts are many and much.
Jasmine: Yes, många is many and mycket is much.
Morten: And luckily they're used in Swedish about the same way as they are in English.
Jasmine: Many eggs in English is många ägg in Swedish.
Morten: Many friends is många kompisar.
Jasmine: It's the same distinction between countable and uncountable nouns that you make in English. många is for the countable nouns.
Morten: That's right. Let's contrast it with a pronoun for uncountable nouns.
Jasmine: For much time, you say mycket tid.
Morten: And mycket vatten is much water.
Jasmine: Interestingly mycket bröd is much bread.
Morten: This may surprise because you might say bread is very countable.
Jasmine: And you'd be right, but both English and Swedish distinguish between countable quantities bread.
Morten: Which need a count words like loaves and slices.
Jasmine: And the general concept of bread, which as an abstract idea, is not countable.
Morten: So English and Swedish are very close in this respect.
Jasmine: Absolutely, you're pretty say using pronouns in Swedish the way you're used to using them in English.
Morten: Wow, that's a big relief. Thanks for listening, everybody.
Jasmine: Want a free way to build your Swedish vocabulary?
Morten: Follow our Swedish word of the day at SwedishPod101.com.
Jasmine: See and hear the word of the day.
Morten: Plus sample phrases and sentences.
Jasmine: Get this daily vocabulary alerts on Facebook, Twitter and the SwedishPod101.com blog.
Morten: And add this widget to your own website or blog. They're available in 35 languages.
Jasmine: Get these easy instructions at SwedishPod101.com/Swedish-phrases. Tack så mycket allihopa. Vi hörs!
Morten: Yes, thanks. Until next time. Hejdå
Jasmine: Hejdå

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