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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: deltagande

Today’s word is about participation, partaking, and sorrow.

Published: 9 September 2022 16:14 CEST
Swedish word of the day: deltagande
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Deltagande is either one or more participants in an activity, or an expression of participation in someone’s mourning, in other words, condolences. 

Originally from delta (not to be confused with the Greek letter), which is made up of the words del, meaning ‘part’, and ta, meaning ‘to take – to partake, or take part. 

It is said that Swedes love lists, and that Swedes like to be nice. En deltagare is ‘a participant’, a partaker, if you will, and so one of the many types of lists that you will often encounter is a deltagarlista, a list of participants. As for the niceness, if you are in a race in Sweden, like a half marathon for instance, you will notice that often everyone gets a medal just for participating. Alla deltagande får en medalj, ‘All participants get a medal.’ 

You can also ta del av något, as in ‘to partake in something’, which usually refers to information. Har du tagit del av pm:et som skickades ut? ‘Have you read the memo that was sent out?’. You will notice that the way to express this is with the same word broken up into parts. Delta… ta del.

Regretfully choice for the word of the day was not arbitrary or for some funny insight into Swedish culture, but because it is a day of sorrow for many. Today many around the world mourn the passing of their monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. 

In Swedish a formal way of expressing your condolences would be att visa sitt deltagande, literally ‘to show one’s participation’, which really means ‘to show one’s participation in the mourning’. Here is a tweet by the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Sweden. 

As you can see, Ambassador Gough uses deltagande in thanking Sweden for the condolences offered. Jag vill varmt tacka för deltagandet som Sverige uttryckt. Literally ‘I want to give warm thanks for the participation that Sweden has expressed’, of course meaning she wants to give thanks for the condolences offered by the Swedish people and their representatives. 

In closing, I offer my own condolences to the Queen’s family and her subjects as one would in a more formal Swedish. Tillåt mig att framföra mina kondoleanser till er med anledning av er drottnings bortgång. ‘Allow me to convey my condolences for the passing of your Queen.’

May she rest in peace.

Example sentences:

Med djupt deltagande i er stora sorg.

My deepest sympathies for your great sorrow.

Hur många deltagande har ni i nuläget?

How many participants do you have so far?  

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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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])

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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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