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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Faking fluency: Ten Swedish words that will help you sound like a local

Work these words into your conversations in Swedish and you'll sound fluent in no time.

Published: 14 May 2019 12:16 CEST
Updated: 29 May 2020 07:20 CEST

Faking fluency: Ten Swedish words that will help you sound like a local

Tjena, want to go to a najs party? Jajamensan! Photo: Faramarz Gosheh/imagebank.sweden.se

This little word packs quite a punch, with just two letters expressing a whole host of things. Surprise, pain, shock, sympathy, embarrassment: oj can mean any and all of the above. Click here to read more

Jo and ja both mean yes. But when do you use one and when do you use the other? Click here to read more

You can never go wrong with a simple hej as a greeting. But if you're confident enough to branch out into the great wide world of Swedish slang, consider going for a tjena. Click here to read more

Swedes are not a people prone to big reactions. But once in a while you may hear a mildly surprised Swede step out of their shell and exclaim “… nämen!” Click here to read more

Are you looking for that great filler word to smooth our your sentences and make you sound more fluent in Swedish? We've got you covered with the word typ. Click here to read more

Jajamensan looks slightly ridiculous written down, but it's one of those words that helps you sound much more Swedish once you learn how to deploy it. Click here to read more

Here's a word that should be familiar to Swedish learners with a knowledge of English, and demonstrates Swedes' tendency to incorporate English words into their language. Click here to read more

You may not learn this word in Swedish class, but it may come in useful whether you're spending time with children or searching for a spot to have fika. Click here to read more

This word will help you fake fluency in Swedish, as long as you use it correctly. It is particularly good for when you want to speak, but are waiting to make sure you have everyone's attention. Click here to read more

Orka is a word that you'll hear a lot, and is key to understanding young Swedes. Click here to read more

All images: nito103/Depositphotos

Do you want to learn a new Swedish word (almost) every day? Follow The Local's word of the day series.

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Swedish word of the day: shit

The word shit in Swedish is, as you may have guessed, a loanword from English. It has its roots in Middle English schit and scythe, meaning “dung”, which in turn originated in a Proto-Indo-European word meaning to split, divide or separate.

There are a number of words in other European languages which have the same root, like schijt in Dutch, Scheiße in German, skidt in Danish, skit/skitt in Norwegian and the Swedish word skit.

So, why does Swedish have two words for shit? Essentially, they’re used (and pronounced) in different ways.

Shit, pronounced similarly to the English word but in a Swedish accent, is essentially only used as an exclamation, whether that’s for something good or bad, and most adults in Sweden wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they heard a small child saying it.

Don’t miss any of The Local’s 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

It normally indicates some sort of surprise or shock, similar to “wow” or “oh my god” in English. You might also hear it in the phrase shit pommes frites, which literally translates as “shit, French fries!” which a Swedish speaker might use to express surprise: shit pommes frites, har du fått en ny mobil?! (“shit French fries, have you got a new phone?!”)

If you accidentally bumped into someone in a queue, for example, you could say shit, förlåt (shit, sorry), and if you came to some sort of realisation, you could say oj shit! (oh shit!). In general, saying shit would be acceptable even in professional situations with Swedes.

Skit, on the other hand, is pronounced with the sort of whooshing sj or sk-sound at the beginning, kind of like the word wheat, but with a whistle at the start.

It’s used in Swedish in broadly the same ways you’d use shit in English, both in the sense of actual faeces (as a noun and a verb) but also as a vulgar way to describe some sort of undesirable material or thing: jag har tröttnat på den här skiten (I’m tired of this shit) or ta bort din skit från bordet (take your shit off the table).

You may also have come across it in the term skit samma (the milder variant would be strunt samma), which can be translated as “never mind” or “forget it”, or skit också if something unfortunate happens (skit också, jag missade bussen – damn it, I missed the bus).

You can also describe something as being skit, use it in phrases like jag förstår inte ett skit (I don’t understand shit) and as an intensifier: han bankade skiten ur honom (he beat the shit out of him).

In contrast to shit, skit is generally considered less acceptable to use in a professional situation… although you will probably still hear children say it.

Example sentences:

Oj shit, spelar du in det här?

Oh shit, are you recording this?

Ska vi inte åka snart? Shit, ja, klockan är redan 12!

Shouldn’t we leave soon? Shit, yeah, it’s already 12 o’clock!

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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