Learn how to ask about things you don't understand
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha:Hi everyone! This is Alisha, and welcome back to SwedishPod101.com. This is Beginner season 1, episode 14 - Talking Taxes in Sweden. |
| Satsuki:Hej allihopa! I’m Satsuki. |
| Alisha:In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask about things that you don’t understand. That sounds like a nice skill to master! |
| Satsuki:Definitely! The conversation takes place at Lisa’s apartment. |
| Alisha:It’s between Lisa and her friend Anna, and since they’re friends, they’re using informal Swedish. |
| Satsuki:Let’s listen to the conversation! |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Lisa Anna, jag förstår inte min lönespecifikation. |
| Anna Låt mig se. |
| Lisa Jag förstår inte det här ordet. Vad betyder bruttolön? |
| Anna Bruttolön är din lön innan skatteavdraget. |
| Lisa Jaha. Och nettolön, vad betyder det? |
| Anna Nettolön är din lön efter skatteavdrag. |
| Lisa Va! Så mycket skatt? |
| Alisha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Lisa Anna, jag förstår inte min lönespecifikation. |
| Anna Låt mig se. |
| Lisa Jag förstår inte det här ordet. Vad betyder bruttolön? |
| Anna Bruttolön är din lön innan skatteavdraget. |
| Lisa Jaha. Och nettolön, vad betyder det? |
| Anna Nettolön är din lön efter skatteavdrag. |
| Lisa Va! Så mycket skatt? |
| Alisha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Lisa Anna, jag förstår inte min lönespecifikation. |
| Anna, I do not understand my pay slip. |
| Anna Låt mig se. |
| Let me see. |
| Lisa Jag förstår inte det här ordet. Vad betyder bruttolön? |
| I don’t understand this word. What does gross amount mean? |
| Anna Bruttolön är din lön innan skatteavdraget. |
| Gross amount is your salary before the tax deduction. |
| Lisa Jaha. Och nettolön, vad betyder det? |
| I see. And net pay, what does that mean? |
| Anna Nettolön är din lön efter skatteavdrag. |
| Net pay is your salary after the tax deduction. |
| Lisa Va! Så mycket skatt? |
| What! That much tax? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alisha:Lisa seemed a bit shocked about the amount of tax deducted from her pay! |
| Satsuki:Yes, I think it’s quite common for people to react like this, because Swedes do pay quite a lot of tax, compared to other countries! |
| Alisha:Why do you pay so much tax? |
| Satsuki:Well, Sweden is quite famous for being a welfare state, and a lot of the taxes we pay are used so that education and healthcare is free and available to all Swedish citizens. |
| Alisha:Sweden must be a wonderful country to live in with all those welfare benefits! |
| Satsuki:Well, I think that the image of Sweden as this great welfare state is a bit exaggerated sometimes, and things like poverty and other social problems do exist. |
| Alisha:So what do you get for all the taxes you pay, beyond free education and healthcare? |
| Satsuki:Hmm…that’s a difficult question to answer, and I guess different people will use different parts of the welfare system over their life spans. You could say, in general, that the welfare financed by the taxes we pay, provides us with a sense of safety. |
| Alisha:Well, that doesn't sound too bad to me! Now let’s move on to the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| lönespecifikation [natural native speed] |
| pay slip |
| lönespecifikation [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| lönespecifikation [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| att förstå [natural native speed] |
| to understand |
| att förstå [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| att förstå [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| åt mig se [natural native speed] |
| let me see |
| åt mig se [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| åt mig se [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| ordet [natural native speed] |
| the word |
| ordet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| ordet [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| bruttolön [natural native speed] |
| gross amount |
| bruttolön [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| bruttolön [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| att betyda [natural native speed] |
| to mean |
| att betyda [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| att betyda [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| skatteavdrag [natural native speed] |
| tax deduction |
| skatteavdrag [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| skatteavdrag [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| nettolön [natural native speed] |
| net pay |
| nettolön [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| nettolön [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| min [natural native speed] |
| my |
| min [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| min [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| skatt [natural native speed] |
| tax |
| skatt [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| skatt [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Satsuki:We’ll start with the noun ‘skatt’. |
| Alisha:Which means “tax”? |
| Satsuki:It does, but it might be good to know that it can also mean “treasure”. |
| Alisha:You’ll be able to work out which one it means from the context it’s used in. Okay, what else do we have? |
| Satsuki:The next word is ‘lönespecifikation’. |
| Alisha:I know that it means, “pay slip”, but the pronunciation is so complicated! |
| Satsuki:Yes, it’s quite difficult to pronounce, but the good news is that Swedes also think the word is far too long and complicated. So they also use an abbreviation. |
| Alisha:Really? What is it? |
| Satsuki:Instead of saying, ‘lönespecifikation’, Swedes often say ‘lönespec’. |
| Alisha:Hmm…well, I still find it a bit difficult, but it’s much easier than before! But now, let’s move on to the grammar! |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha:In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask about things that you don't understand. |
| Satsuki:Yes, and in order to do so, we need to look at two of the sentences that were in the dialog. |
| Alisha:They were “I don't understand this word. What does gross amount mean?” |
| Satsuki:Let’s look at these two sentences separately to make everything a bit clearer. We’ll start with “I don't understand this word”, ‘Jag förstår inte det här ordet’. |
| Alisha:This kind of sentence is useful if you want to get someone to explain something for you. Could you tell us more about the structure of the sentence? |
| Satsuki:Let’s start with the first part. “I don't understand”, ‘Jag förstår inte’. |
| Alisha:Does that last word mean “not”? |
| Satsuki:Yes, ‘inte’ means “not” and it’s placed after the first verb in a statement like this to make it negative. |
| Alisha:So how about the last part of the sentence when you say “this word”? |
| Satsuki:“This word” is ‘det här ordet’. This final part of the sentence is where we specify what it is we don't understand. |
| Alisha:Let’s give some other examples. How do you say “I don't understand this noun”? |
| Satsuki:It’s easy - you’ll start with the first part of the sentence, which will always stay the same, the “I don't understand”, which is ‘jag förstår inte’. |
| Alisha:This is followed by the part where you specify what you don't understand, and in this situation it’s “a noun”. |
| Satsuki:“this noun” is ‘Det här substantivet’. If we put it all together, we get ‘Jag förstår inte det här substantivet’. Now listeners, repeat after me! |
| Satsuki:‘Jag förstår inte det här substantivet’. [pause] |
| Alisah Let’s look at the next sentence. It is “What does gross amount mean?” |
| Satsuki:Which is ‘vad betyder bruttolön’. |
| Alisha:So, this is actually the part where we’re asking someone to explain something. |
| Satsuki:Yes, and this type of sentence structure can be used to ask the meaning of any word you don't understand. You simply switch the ‘bruttolön’ part for the word you don't understand. |
| Alisha:That sounds easy! Let’s try it with some other words too! How would I ask someone to explain the word “pay slip”? |
| Satsuki:You will need to start with the first part of the sentence, ‘vad betyder’, and then add the word for “pay slip”, which is ‘lönespecifikation’. |
| Alisha:Let’s put that all together! “What does pay slip mean?” is… |
| Satsuki:‘Vad betyder lönespecifikation’. Now listeners, repeat after me! |
| Satsuki:‘Vad betyder lönespecifikation’. [pause] |
| Alisha:What about “what does tax deduction mean”? |
| Satsuki:That’s ‘Vad betyder skatteavdrag’. Listeners, please repeat after me! ‘Vad betyder skatteavdrag’ [pause]. |
| Alisha:Perfect, I think that’s it for this lesson. Make sure you check the lesson notes, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Satsuki:Hej då! |
| Alisha:Bye! |
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