Learn how to ask "Why?"
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| Hej, jag heter Elin. Hi everybody! I’m Elin. |
| Welcome to SwedishPod101.com’s “Svenska på 3 minuter”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Swedish. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to ask "Who" questions in Swedish. |
| This time, we are going to ask "Why" questions. |
| Imagine your boss is giving you a call because you are not at work today... He will certainly ask you Varför är du inte på jobbet i dag? |
| [slowly] Varför är du inte på jobbet i dag? |
| So let’s break down this question. |
| First we had- |
| Varför, which is the basic translation of "Why" in Swedish. |
| är is the present tense of the verb att vara. |
| du is the word for “you”. |
| inte is "not”. |
| Then på jobbet means “at work” |
| And finally i dag which is "today" |
| All together it is Varför är du inte på jobbet i dag? |
| So in Swedish, varför is the exact translation of "Why", and it’s used to ask the reason for something. |
| If you get into more trouble with your boss, you might hear him say Varför är du sen idag? meaning "Why are you late today?" |
| Let’s look at some other uses for varför. |
| If someone says something you don’t agree with, you can tell them Varför tror du det? “Why do you think that?” |
| [slowly]Varför tror du det? |
| Or if you are upset about the train being late you can ask someone, Varför är tåget sent? “Why is the train late?” |
| [slowly]Varför är tåget sent? |
| The answer to these questions could then easily be... |
| Jag vet inte varför. “I don’t know why.” |
| [slowly]Jag vet inte varför. |
| Now it’s time for Elin’s Insights. |
| A popular expression in Sweden is Varför inte? which means, as in English, "Why not?" |
| You can use it to accept a request if you're not really excited about it. Or, if it was not planned in advance. |
| For example, if a friend asks you suddenly- "How about going to the movies tonight?" |
| You can answer Varför inte? "Why not?" |
| This lesson is the last lesson of this Absolute Beginner’s video series. |
| But it’s hopefully not the last you learn about the Swedish language! To take your language ability to the next level, check out SwedishPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Swedish. |
| Lycka till! |
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