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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: trevligt

Today’s Swedish word has an IKEA-hob named after it, which promises a nice hob, or so one might assume from the word. 

Published: 8 July 2022 15:51 CEST
Swedish word of the day: trevligt
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Swedes love to have it trevligt or even jättetrevligt. Trevlig simply means ‘pleasant’, ‘pleasurable’, ‘nice’ or ‘jolly’, and can be used to describe a person or an experience. 

The origin of the word is in the Old Swedish þriflika (that first letter is a th-sound), and it is related to trivas, which means to ‘feel a lasting sense of comfort and satisfaction’ or just ‘to feel at home somewhere or with something’. Old Swedish, by the way, is the Swedish spoken from 1225 to 1525 AD.

So where can you have it trevligt? Well, the quintessentially Swedish experience of the fika is perhaps the first thing that comes to mind. Trevligt you see is very Swedish in the sense that it is sort of implied that it isn’t too much. It is a nice time, like the one you have sitting with some friends or coworkers having a coffee and a bun.

But then there is the superlative. Oh yes. You did not just have a nice time, it was great (but perhaps not a party, mind you)! It was super nice – Det var jättetrevligt! 

Likewise, a person is trevlig or jättetrevlig, if they are not rude. It is quite neutral to be trevlig, meaning simply that someone is ‘nice’, but if you really liked the person, jättetrevlig is the way to go. 

In short, trevlig is a nice word, useful in your everyday life. But trevlig is not all that it once was.

Trevlig used to also mean ‘industrious’, ‘diligent’, ‘hard-working’, ‘busy’ or ‘worksome’, meanings now more associated with the word flitig. We speculate, but perhaps this might be a linguistic development that has mirrored the increasing comfort of Swedes? Once upon a time, hard work was just a fact of life for the common Swede, today Swedish society is one of the most affluent in the world. One could say Swedes have it quite trevligt.

Practice makes perfect, they say. So on your next outing, be sure to let your Swedish friends and colleagues know that you had it trevligt, hopefully even jättetrevligt.

Example sentences:

Nämen, vad trevligt!

Oh my, how nice!

Asså, jag hade såååå trevligt!

You know, I had such a nice time!

Hur gick det med Annika då? Hon var jättetrevlig!

So, how did it go with Annika? She was so nice!

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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