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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: stammis

Here's a Swedish word that could help you get discounts when dining and drinking in Sweden.

Published: 10 May 2019 15:15 CEST
Updated: 1 March 2024 09:49 CET
the word stammis written on a blackboard next to the swedish flag
Are you a stammis anywhere? Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Stammis means “regular”, in the sense of being a regular guest or customer at a certain establishment.

You would most often hear it used in reference to bars, restaurants or cafés, but it also makes sense if you’re talking about another kind of shop or service, such as a hairdresser, bookshop, or really anything else you use regularly, and it can also be translated as “loyal customer”.

The transfer of money is not a requirement, so you can be a stammis på biblioteket (a regular at the library) or a stammis på forumet (a regular on the online forum).

It’s a noun, so you could say something like jag är stammis på baren (I’m a regular at the bar) or här är han stammis (he’s a regular here).

Stammis comes from the compound nouns stamkund (regular customer) or stamgäst (regular guest) but those two words sound much more formal than the colloquial stammis with the typical -is ending that pops up in a lot of Swedish slang words.

  • Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading our new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.

Stam itself is a noun, which can refer to the trunk of a tree and can also mean “tribe/clan/family”, so the idea is that if you’re a stamkund, you’re a customer who’s almost part of the family.

Usually, you would say that stammis isn’t a formal label; it’s more about feeling a sense of attachment to the location and perhaps building up a relationship with the staff, but at some places there’s a formal scheme so that you can sign up as a stammis in order to get discounts and special offers.

This might be by signing up to a loyalty card (bonuskort) or paying a membership fee that is worthwhile for frequent customers.

Examples

De flesta av våra kunder är stammisar

Most of our customers are regulars

Jag känner mig som stammis här och det är så mysigt

I feel like a regular here and it’s so nice

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.

Member comments

  1. The word is, or was when I lived in Sweden, “stammkund”. I can’t see what “abbreviating” (still two syllables) it achieves. I would describe such Swedish usage as “slarvig” (your next word of the day).

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For members

SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: annandag

Today is annandag pingst, but what does annandag actually mean?

Published: 20 May 2024 11:16 CEST
Swedish word of the day: annandag

Many Swedish religious holidays last three days, starting with the afton celebrated the day before the holiday, then the dag, which is the actual day of the holiday, then annandag, the day after the holiday.

Some examples of these are Christmas (jul), Easter (påsk) and Pentecost (pingst), where annandag refers to Boxing Day, Easter Monday and Whit Monday, respectively.

Annandag itself is a compound word consisting of two words: annan and dag. Let’s look at annan first.

Annan comes from the Old Swedish word annar, meaning “second”, “other” or “one of two”. In the accusative case, this became annan, which has hung on in modern Swedish. (For the purposes of this article I’ll be skipping the explanation of Old Swedish grammar, but the grammatically-inclined can read more on the accusative case here.)

It can be complicated to translate into English, and the fact that the word can appear as annat, andre or andra, too, depending on the object it refers to, doesn’t make this easier. 

Here are a few ways it can be translated: 

Vill du ha någonting annat? (Would you like something else?)

Jag vill ha en annan tröja (I want a different top)

Har du några andra leksaker? (Do you have any other toys?)

Den andre prinsen heter André (The second prince is called André [you could use andra here, too])

  • Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading our app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button

Dag, meanwhile, comes from the Old Norse dagr via Old Swedish dagher, with the same Proto-West Germanic root as the English word “day”. 

It differs from the word dygn, which refers specifically to a 24-hour period (as an aside, there is a rarely used word for this in English, too, nychthemeron, from an Ancient Greek term meaning “lasting a day and a night”). 

As far as annandag is concerned, the annan here means “second”, so it literally translates to the second day of whatever holiday it’s referring to.

Usually, an annandag will be written alongside the name of its respective holiday, like annandag påsk or annandag pingst. If you see it written alone, it’s probably referring to annandag jul, which is December 26th or Boxing Day.

Although most holidays in Sweden have an afton and a dag, not all of them have annandagar, so you’ll probably raise a few eyebrows if you ask your colleagues about their plans for annandag midsommar. 

We won’t stop you trying to get your friends and family to celebrate you for an extra day on annandag födelse (second birthday), annandag mor (second mothers’ day) or annandag far (second father’s day), though.

Example sentences:

Annandag pingst var allmän helgdag i Sverige fram till 2004

Whit Monday was a public holiday in Sweden until 2004

Vi brukar fira med min pappas familj på annandagen

We usually celebrate with my dad’s family on December 26th

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.

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