Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Kellie: Hi everyone, and welcome back to SwedishPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 12 - Is Your Swedish Friend the Sharpest Tool in the Shed? Kellie here.
Vicky: Hej! I'm Vicky.
Kellie: In this lesson, you’ll learn some useful math expressions and some negative numbers. The conversation takes place at home.
Vicky: It's between Annie and Hanna.
Kellie:  The speakers are friends, so they’ll use informal Swedish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Annie: Vet du, en kille i min klass är sjukt dålig på matte. Han tror att 20 (tjugo) gånger 0 (noll) är 20 (tjugo).
Hanna: Ja, han har nog inte alla hästar hemma. Vem som helst förstår ju att 20 (tjugo) gånger 0 (noll) är minus 20 (tjugo).
Annie: Skämtar du?
Hanna: Vadå? Vad menar du?
Annie: Men Hanna, jag är inte den skarpaste kniven i lådan, men nog vet jag att 20 (tjugo) gånger 0 (noll) blir 0 (noll).
Hanna: Hur kan det bli det?
Annie: Du multiplicerar ju 20 (tjugo) med ingenting. Alltså blir det ingenting! Om det ska bli minus 20 (tjugo), måste du subtrahera 20 (tjugo) med 40 (fyrtio) ju.
Hanna: Jaha, tänkte inte på det.
Annie: Eller multiplicera 20 (tjugo) med minus 1 (ett).
Hanna: Va? Det där får du förklara...
Kellie: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Annie: You know, a guy in my class is really bad at math. He thinks 20 times 0 is 20.
Hanna: Yeah, he’s probably not playing with a full deck. Anyone understands that 20 times 0 is minus 20.
Annie: Are you kidding?
Hanna: What? What do you mean?
Annie: But Hanna, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I do know that 20 times 0 is 0.
Hanna: How can that be?
Annie: You multiply 20 by nothing. So it becomes nothing! If it's gonna be minus 20, you'd have to subtract 40 from 20.
Hanna: Oh, I didn't think about that.
Annie: Or multiply 20 by minus 1.
Hanna: What? You'll have to explain that…
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Kellie: Vicky, as far as I know, Sweden is one of few countries in the world where education is free for everyone.
Vicky: Yes, you can study as long as you want at the university level, no matter your age, without having to pay. The exception is courses in arts which are often private and therefore very expensive.
Kellie: So, even retirees have the right to study for free?
Vicky: Yes. In 2014 Sweden was ranked as number two in the world when it came to higher education. The government offers student benefits each month, and you have the right to this financial support if you are not earning more than a certain amount every month, as long as you are studying full-time.
Kellie: That's really great! Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Kellie: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Vicky: gångra [natural native speed]
Kellie: multiply, times
Vicky: gångra [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Vicky: gångra [natural native speed]
Kellie: Next we have..
Vicky: vem som helst [natural native speed]
Kellie: anybody
Vicky: vem som helst [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Vicky: vem som helst [natural native speed]
Kellie: Next we have..
Vicky: att skämta [natural native speed]
Kellie: to joke
Vicky: att skämta [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Vicky: att skämta [natural native speed]
Kellie: Next we have..
Vicky: skarp [natural native speed]
Kellie: sharp
Vicky: skarp [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Vicky: skarp [natural native speed]
Kellie: Next we have..
Vicky: att multiplicera [natural native speed]
Kellie: to multiply
Vicky: att multiplicera [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Vicky: att multiplicera [natural native speed]
Kellie: Next we have..
Vicky: att subtrahera [natural native speed]
Kellie: to subtract
Vicky: att subtrahera [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Vicky: att subtrahera [natural native speed]
Kellie: Next we have..
Vicky: minus [natural native speed]
Kellie: minus
Vicky: minus [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Vicky: minus [natural native speed]
Kellie: And last..
Vicky: att förklara [natural native speed]
Kellie: to explain
Vicky: att förklara [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Vicky: att förklara [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Kellie: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is..
Vicky: sjukt dålig, sjukt means “really”, one example of this is sjukt dålig which means “really bad.”
Kellie: You can use this phrase when you want to say that something is terribly bad or if someone is bad at something.
Vicky: Right. Listeners, please note that sjukt dålig is used as slang among young people mostly, but nowadays even adults use it. But it’s only for informal use, and never written.
Kellie: Can you give us an example?
Vicky: Filmen var sjukt dålig!
Kellie: “The movie was really bad!”
Vicky: Jag är sjukt dålig på att spela tennis.
Kellie: “I'm really bad at playing tennis.” Okay, what's the next word?
Vicky: vem som helst
Kellie: which means “anybody.”
Vicky: vem means “who,” som means “as,” and helst is the superlative of gärna meaning “willingly.” vem som helst.
Kellie: So, you can translate it as “anybody,” “whoever,” or “whomever.” You can use it in formal and informal situations. Vicky, can you give us some examples?
Vicky: Sure. For example...Vem som helst får ställa upp i tävlingen.
Kellie: “Anybody is allowed to participate in the competition”
Vicky: Vem som helst kan ju råka ut för en olycka.
Kellie: “Anybody could be in an accident.” Okay, what's the last phrase?
Vicky: jag är inte den skarpaste kniven i lådan
Kellie: which means “I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer.” Vicky, let's break it down to see the meaning of each word.
Vicky: Sure. Jag är inte means “I'm not,” den skarpaste means “the sharpest,” and kniven means “knife.” i lådan is “in the drawer” in English. jag är inte den skarpaste kniven i lådan
Kellie: This expression means “not the smartest person around.” You can use it when speaking about someone who is not very intelligent.
Vicky: Right. For example you can say... Han är minsann inte den skarpaste kniven i lådan
Kellie: This means “He sure isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.”
Vicky: Min lillebror är jättegullig men han är knappast den skarpaste kniven i lådan.
Kellie: “My little brother is very sweet but he is hardly the sharpest knife in the drawer.” Vicky, can we use this expression when talking about ourselves?
Vicky: Yes, if you want to say that you yourself may not be the smartest person around, but even you know something. For example, Jag är inte den skarpaste kniven i lådan men till och med jag vet det.
Kellie: “I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but even I know that.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Kellie: In this lesson, you’ll learn some useful math expressions and how to read negative numbers. Let's start with how to read a decimal point in Swedish.
Vicky: In Swedish, we read a decimal point as komma, and after that we say the number as it is written.
Kellie: For example…
Vicky: noll komma ett
Kellie: which means “0.1”
Vicky: två komma femtiosex
Kellie: “2.56”
Vicky: fem komma åttiotre
Kellie: “5.83”
Vicky: tio komma ett
Kellie: “10.1” Can you also give us a sample sentence?
Vicky: Sure. Svaret är femton komma fem.
Kellie: “The answer is fifteen point five.” Ok, now let’s talk about how to read common fractions in Swedish. For example, how would you say “half” in Swedish?
Vicky: en halv
Kellie: and “a third”?
Vicky: en tredjedel
Kellie: Great! And “three fifths”?
Vicky: tre femtedelar
Kellie: And a sample sentence?
Vicky: Sure. Det finns en tredjedel av tårtan kvar.
Kellie: Which means “There's a third of the cake left.” Ok! Let’s move on. Our next point is how to read mathematical symbols. Vicky, how do you say “plus” in Swedish?
Vicky: It’s similar to English - we say plus
Kellie: and “minus”?
Vicky: minus
Kellie: And what about “times”?
Vicky: In Swedish it’s gånger.
Kellie: And “divided by”?
Vicky: delat med. For example, you can say Sex delat med två är tre.
Kellie: “Six divided by two is three.” Our last point for this lesson is reading negative numbers.
Vicky: In Swedish, we read the minus first when it comes to negative numbers.
Kellie: For example?
Vicky: minus tjugo
Kellie: -20
Vicky: minus 1
Kellie: -1
Vicky: When it comes to degrees, however, we read the number before the minus which is the opposite of English. For example... -3 grader,
Kellie: “negative three degrees.”
Vicky: One exception is “zero degrees,” which in Swedish is nollgradigt.
Kellie: Let’s end this lesson with an example sentence.
Vicky: Sure. Det är femton minusgrader ute.
Kellie: “It's -15 degrees outside.”

Outro

Kellie: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Vicky: Bye!

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