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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: harkla

Today we look at one of those Swedish words that has no one-word English equivalent.

Swedish word of the day: harkla
How do you say this in English in one word? Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Harkla is a great verb that means something close to “to clear one’s throat”.

This can be the half-coughing sound you sometimes make before speaking to make sure you can talk clearly, or it can refer to the action when you have a cold and need to clear your throat to dislodge phlegm.

Harkla is most often used as a reflexive verb, meaning you follow the verb with a reflexive pronoun (those are mig, dig, sig, er and oss in Swedish, equivalent to myself, yourself, himself/herself/itself, themselves, and ourselves in English). So for example: jag harklade mig innan jag började prata (I cleared my throat before I started talking).

But you can also use it as an intransitive verb, meaning it’s used on its own without a reflexive pronoun or an object. This is much less common, and usually refers to ongoing periods of throat-clearing, for example: jag har hostat och harklat (I’ve been coughing and clearing my throat).

Harkla has existed in Swedish for many, many years and though its origin isn’t clear, it’s very possible that it’s at least partly onomatopoeic, meaning the sound of the word echoes the action it describes.

There’s a whole family of words related to harkla too. 

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There’s the adjective harklig (meaning something like “throat-cleary” in imperfect English, or “constantly having to clear one’s throat”), so you might say jag är hostig och harklig (I keep needing to cough and clear my throat).

And there are not one but two related nouns. The word en harkling (a clearing of one’s throat) typically refers to a one-off incidence of throat-clearing, for example: jag hörde en harkling (I heard someone clear their throat).

The other noun, ett harklande, implies a more long-term or ongoing throat-clearing, or is used to the general idea of throat-clearing, for example: jag är trött på harklandet (“I’m tired of the throat-clearing”, with the implication that this is an ongoing issue).

Examples

Hennes röst var skrovlig så hon harklade sig

Her voice was gruff so she cleared her throat

Usch, jag måste harkla mig hela tiden

Yuck, I keep having to clear my throat

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 USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: shit

Before you get offended by this potty-mouthed word of the day, we should probably tell you that this English swear word is a lot milder in Swedish.

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 USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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