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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Swedish word of the day: bus

Here's a Swedish word that's a false friend for English-speakers.

Published: 29 October 2019 15:36 CET

Swedish word of the day: bus

... or treat? Image: nito103/Depositphotos

Bus means 'prank' or 'mischief' (if you're looking for the Swedish word for 'bus', that's buss with a double 's').

Over Halloween you'll hear it far more than usual, as children dressed in spooky costumes go from door to door asking bus eller godis (trick or treat, although the Swedish literally means 'trick or sweet/candy'). This is a very recent custom in Sweden, which only really started marking Halloween in the 1990s.

Because of this, there's inconsistency in how it's celebrated, so you might receive trick or treaters on October 31st, or on the night before the older Swedish festival Alla helgons dag (All Saints Day), which is always on the Saturday after Halloween.

According to Swedish etiquette website Vett och Etikett, the latter is preferred, and you can remember it by saying bus på fredag, ljus på lördag (trick on the Friday, light on Saturday).

Bus can also be used to refer to 'mischief' or 'trouble' more generally, while busa means 'to make trouble' and busig means 'mischievous'.

Examples

Hej hej, bus eller godis?

Hi, trick or treat?

Han har busiga ögon

He has mischievous eyes

Do you have a favourite Swedish word you would like to nominate for our word of the day series? Get in touch by email or if you are a Member of The Local, log in to comment below.

Member comments

Anonymous - 29 October 2019 at 16:50 CET

My favourite is always sköldpadda! It’s so different from the English word but so cute at the same time

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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.

Why do Swedes celebrate holidays a day early?

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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