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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: pant

This Swedish false friend means something quite different from the English, and it's a crucial word for living in Sweden.

Published: 19 October 2021 08:05 CEST
Swedish word of the day: pant
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Pant refers to money paid as security for something; in English it could be translated as “refundable deposit”, “security” or “pawn”.

For example, if you buy property in Sweden, you will probably be told the property is currently pantsatt, which means a mortgage has been taken out against it (this should be resolved on the day the property changes hands). You could also pay money in pant as security against other kinds of debts.

But in everyday life, the more common usage is the pant fee you pay when you buy recyclable bottles and cans. This is listed as a separate amount on your receipt, so a drink in a plastic bottle may cost you 23 kronor and an extra 2 kronor in pant. You get the pant back by recycling the bottles at pantmaskiner/pantstationer (bottle and can recycling stations) which can be found in most Swedish supermarkets. Similar schemes exist in Germany, Denmark and Norway among others, with the aim of encouraging recycling.

In Sweden, the scheme was introduced in 1984, and today Pantamera, the company operating the pantsystem, says 99 percent of Swedes participate in it, with more than 200 bottles recycled per person in 2020. The company’s goal is for 90 percent of all cans and PET bottles to be recycled in Sweden, and in 2020 they weren’t far off at 88 percent.

The verb panta means to hand something in and get money in return, but usually it refers simply to the act of recycling bottles. You can also use pant to talk about other similar recycling schemes, for example at restaurants which charge a pant fee for their packaging which is returned if you bring the box back for recycling.

Examples

Miljarder burkar har återvunnits sedan Sverige införde pant 

Millions of cans have been recycled since Sweden introduced refundable deposits

Jag lämnar den här i pant

I’ll hand this over as security

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is now 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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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: själv

Today's Swedish word can help you talk about independence, solitude... and swearwords.

Published: 11 April 2024 09:31 CEST
Swedish word of the day: själv

The word själv means “self”, as in han gjorde det själv (he did it himself), jag tycker själv bäst om våren (I personally prefer spring), vad tycker du själv (what do you yourself think?) or as parents of Swedish-speaking two-year-olds will know too well, kan själv (“can self!” or “I can do it myself!”).

Själv can also mean “alone” – not necessarily implying that the speaker is feeling lonely – such as jag var hemma själv (“I was home alone”) or jag gick på bio själv (“I went to the cinema on my own”). If you’re feeling lonely, you should instead say jag känner mig ensam.

It appears in several compound words, such as självisk (selfish) or osjälvisk (unselfish/selfless), självbehärskad (restrained, or more literally in control of oneself) or självförtroende (confidence).

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A trickier word to explain is självaste.

Självaste can also mean him or herself, but think of it as a more extreme version, implying that the speaker has some sort of reaction to the person in question, perhaps they’re impressed or shocked. Other translations can be “in the flesh” or “none other than”.

For example: jag vände mig om och då stod självaste drottningen där (“I turned around and the Queen herself was standing there”) or de vann mot självaste Barcelona (“They won against none other than Barcelona”).

You also often hear it when Swedes swear. Det var då självaste fan (“It was the devil… in the flesh”) may be said by someone who is annoyed that something went wrong or isn’t working, although more often than not they’ll leave the last word unspoken: det var då självaste… (similarly to how an English-speaker may say “what the…” leaving out the cruder word “hell”).

Examples:

Själv är bästa dräng

If you want to get something done you’d best do it yourself

I själva verket

In actual fact (in fact, actually)

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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