Learn how to talk about the imperative in Swedish
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Morten: Welcome to SwedishPod101.com, Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 17 - Making Swedish Small Talk Over Coffee. Hej och välkomna. This is Morten. |
| Jasmine: Hej, allihopa. I'm Jasmine. |
| Morten: In this lesson, we will be stopping on some small talk over a fika or a Swedish coffee break. |
| Jasmine: We're at a café in Haga, a very picturesque district of Gothenburg near the university. |
| Morten: James is there with Nils and it's mid afternoon. |
| Jasmine: They're just passing time so the conversation is very informal. Let's listen to the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Nils: Hej James, hur står det till? |
| James: Bara bra, tack. Och själv då? |
| Nils: Under kontroll. Du, du måste prova det här kaffet med valnötsmak, jättegod! |
| James: Okej, det ska jag. Men jag är lite hungrig också. |
| Nils: Ta en av frallorna här. Dem kan jag rekommendera. |
| James: Visst är det skönt med lite svensk fika. |
| Nils: Absolut. Jag är här varje onsdag. Kom med lite oftare. |
| James: Gärna. Då kommer jag nästa vecka redan. |
| Morten: And now let's listen to the slow version. |
| Jasmine: Och nu ska vi lyssna på den sakta versionen. |
| Nils: Hej James, hur står det till? |
| James: Bara bra, tack. Och själv då? |
| Nils: Under kontroll. Du, du måste prova det här kaffet med valnötsmak, jättegod! |
| James: Okej, det ska jag. Men jag är lite hungrig också. |
| Nils: Ta en av frallorna här. Dem kan jag rekommendera. |
| James: Visst är det skönt med lite svensk fika. |
| Nils: Absolut. Jag är här varje onsdag. Kom med lite oftare. |
| James: Gärna. Då kommer jag nästa vecka redan. |
| Morten: And now with the English translation. |
| Jasmine: Och nu med den engelska översättningen. |
| Nils: Hej James, hur står det till? |
| Morten: Hi, James. How are you? |
| James: Bara bra, tack. Och själv då? |
| Morten: Just fine, thanks. And how about you? |
| Nils: Under kontroll. Du, du måste prova det här kaffet med valnötsmak, jättegod! |
| Morten: Fine. James, you have to try this walnut-flavored coffee—very tasty! |
| James: Okej, det ska jag. Men jag är lite hungrig också. |
| Morten: OK, will do. But I'm also a little hungry. |
| Nils: Ta en av frallorna här. Dem kan jag rekommendera. |
| Morten: Take one of these rolls here. I can recommend those. |
| James: Visst är det skönt med lite svensk fika. |
| Morten: Sure, a Swedish coffee break is a fine thing. |
| Nils: Absolut. Jag är här varje onsdag. Kom med lite oftare. |
| Morten: Absolutely. I'm here every Wednesday. Join me more often. |
| James: Gärna. Då kommer jag nästa vecka redan. |
| Morten: I'd be pleased to. Then I'll come as early as next week. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Morten: So our main characters are celebrating the Swedish coffee break. |
| Jasmine: Fika, yes. It came out briefly in lesson 12. |
| Morten: So what is so special about fika? |
| Jasmine: Well, it's a national institution. Everybody indulge in it, students, people at work. |
| Morten: Or people just hanging out in town I hear. And what else do our listeners need to know? |
| Jasmine: People usually have coffee and something sweet to eat, so called kaffebröd. |
| Morten: This literally means coffee bread and it is often baked with cinnamon, right? |
| Jasmine: Yeah. And that a fika at a café, you usually get påtår, that means one refill. |
| Morten: So it's a bit like America, but normally it's only one refill in Sweden, correct? |
| Jasmine: Yes, but that's not such a harsh restriction. Fika is a way of life for many Swedes. |
| Morten: To stop whatever hectic thing everything is doing and enjoy a nice moment of relaxation. I get it. |
| Jasmine: And it's not just work we need to have a break from. Our climate can be pretty harsh too. |
| Morten: All the more reason to enjoy a warm cup with friends. |
| Jasmine: To have a fika is as Swedish as an experience gets. So do join in. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Morten: And now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First we have. |
| Jasmine: Prova [natural native speed] |
| Morten: To try. |
| Jasmine: Prova [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Prova [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Smak [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Taste. |
| Jasmine: Smak [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Smak [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: God [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Tasty. |
| Jasmine: God [slowly - broken down by syllable]. God [natural native speed] |
| Morten: And next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Hungrig [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Hungry. |
| Jasmine: Hungrig [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Hungrig [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Fralla [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Bread roll. |
| Jasmine: Fralla [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Fralla [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Rekommendera [natural native speed] |
| Morten: To recommend. |
| Jasmine: Rekommendera [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Rekommendera [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Skön [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Pleasant. |
| Jasmine: Skön [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Skön [natural native speed] |
| Morten: And finally, we have. |
| Jasmine: Ofta [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Often. |
| Jasmine: Ofta [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ofta [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Morten: Let's now take a closer look at the words and phrases for this lesson. The first one is very casual, almost street. |
| Jasmine: Something you could say if someone was using Läget. |
| Morten: That was something along the line of all right, wasn't it? |
| Jasmine: That's right. So if someone says Läget and you respond with Under kontroll. |
| Morten: Well, English speakers can pretty well guess what that means. Jasmine Läget? |
| Jasmine: Under kontroll? |
| Morten: And how about you dear listeners Läget? |
| Jasmine: That's right, under kontroll. |
| Morten: Let's keep this positive energy going and get to our next word, god, that means tasty, right? |
| Jasmine: It does. In standard Swedish it refers exclusively to food or drinks. |
| Morten: So what do you call other things are god. |
| Jasmine: We use the word bra. We've covered that before and heard it several times. |
| Morten: So I ask you how the food of that Indian restaurant was last night, and you say? |
| Jasmine: God, tack. |
| Morten: Dear listeners, how was that food you just had? |
| Jasmine: God, that's it. |
| Morten: And there's another word that deserves our attention. |
| Jasmine: Yes, the word Skön. It is used to describe a pleasant atmosphere mostly. |
| Morten: But it could also mean beautiful, correct? |
| Jasmine: It could. But for people, there are other words to use. |
| Morten: Got it. Finally, we have a very useful little phrase. |
| Jasmine: If someone gives you advice and you intend to act on it… |
| Morten: …or just think it would be a good idea, you can say… |
| Jasmine: Det ska jag, I shall or will do. |
| Morten: However, the word do does not appear in the Swedish, does it? |
| Jasmine: Not in this phrase, but you could easily weave it in. |
| Morten: So I can tell you have a good day, Ha en trevlig dag, And you respond with? |
| Jasmine: Det ska jag. |
| Morten: And now dear listener, we say to you, Ha en trevlig dag. |
| Jasmine: Det ska jag. |
| Morten: Okay. Thanks for making it this far. |
| Jasmine: Excellent work, everybody. |
Lesson focus |
| Morten: And now let's take a look at the grammar for this lesson. In the lesson focus, we are looking at imperative forms of verbs. |
| Jasmine: And for this, we need to remind ourselves with the different verb groups again. |
| Morten: Okay. We'll start with the irregular ones. So far we've looked at Vara to be, and Ha, to have. |
| Jasmine: In the present tense, those are är and har. But what are their imperative forms? |
| Morten: Well before we tackle that issue, let's briefly look at what an imperative form actually is. |
| Jasmine: Yes, that's a good point. Imperatives are commands. They're used a lot in families. |
| Morten: When you tell your loved ones, dinner is ready and call them to the table. |
| Jasmine: And of course at work places, imperatives come in handy, when you need to communicate over a distance. |
| Morten: Your boss will use them a lot and you yourself may tell the people you lead what to do using imperatives. |
| Jasmine: That's right. Now back to the imperatives vara and ha. |
| Morten: In English the imperative form is identical to the infinitive form without the word to in front. In Swedish though, it's a little more complex. |
| Jasmine: The imperative of Vara is var. |
| Morten: As in the Swedish for, here you are, Varsågod. |
| Jasmine: Yes. Please listen and repeat, Varsågod. |
| Morten: Good work. And the imperative for ha is identical to the infinitive. |
| Jasmine: So that's easy. But what about other verbs? |
| Morten: Well apart from the irregulars, we saw some verbs that make their present tense by adding R to the infinitive. |
| Jasmine: Yes, like Tala, rekommendera and bo. |
| Morten: These are also identical in the imperative with the infinitive, but let's hear an example. |
| Jasmine: Tala inte så fort |
| Morten: Don't speak so fast. Let's hear that once again and repeat it. |
| Jasmine: Tala inte så fort |
| Morten: Very good. And then Rekommendera. |
| Jasmine: Rekommendera ett bra ställe, tack, please recommend a good place. |
| Morten: Please listen and repeat once more, Rekommendera ett bra ställe, tack |
| Jasmine: Nice work, everybody. |
| Morten: Please do remember the tone accents of these verbs folks, Tala. |
| Jasmine: That is important. |
| Morten: And then there are those one syllable verbs that form their present tense by adding R to the infinitive. And what about to live, bo? |
| Jasmine: Bo inte för nära stationen |
| Morten: Don't live too close to the station. Please listen and repeat. |
| Jasmine: Bo inte för nära stationen |
| Morten: Good job everybody again. |
| Jasmine: And finally we have those verbs that make their present tense by dropping A from their infinitive. |
| Morten: And replacing it with ER. |
| Jasmine: To make one of those verbs imperative… |
| Morten: …all you do is drop the A. |
| Jasmine: Läsa, Heta and Komma. |
| Morten: So could you give us the imperatives for this? |
| Jasmine: Sure. Läs och kom. |
| Morten: Okay, but where is Heta? |
| Jasmine: Heta doesn't have an imperative. It wouldn't make sense to commend someone to be called something, would it? |
| Morten: Well I guess it wouldn't. And what about Komma and Kom. |
| Jasmine: Please notice that kommer drops not only the A, but also an M. |
| Morten: This happens for reasons we don't go into now, but they have to do with Swedish pronunciation. |
| Jasmine: For now, just remember to drop the M when you write the word as well. |
| Morten: And could we have some example sentences with imperative Läs and Kom. |
| Jasmine: Naturally, Läs den här boken |
| Morten: Read this book here. Once more please so our listeners can repeat it. |
| Jasmine: Läs den här boken |
| Morten: Excellent. And one more example please? |
| Jasmine: Kom hit, Thomas, Thomas, come here. |
| Morten: All right, you know the drill, listen and repeat once more. |
| Jasmine: Kom hit, Thomas |
| Morten: Very good, Mycket bra. |
| Jasmine: And this is all you need to know about the imperatives for now. |
| Morten: So please get plenty of practice. Like our podcasts? |
| Jasmine: Then like our Facebook page too. |
| Morten: Get lesson updates our Swedish word of the day and news on Facebook. |
| Jasmine: Just search for SwedishPod101.com and like our fan page. |
| Morten: And if you like a lesson or a series on SwedishPod101.com. |
| Jasmine: Let us know… |
| Morten: …by clicking the button next to the lesson or series. Good by for now. Hejdå. |
| Jasmine: Hejdå. Tack så mycket. Till nästa gång! |
| Morten: Yes, till next time. |
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