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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: stammis

Here's a Swedish word that could help you get discounts when dining and drinking in Sweden.

Published: 10 May 2019 15:15 CEST
Updated: 1 March 2024 09:49 CET
the word stammis written on a blackboard next to the swedish flag
Are you a stammis anywhere? Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Stammis means “regular”, in the sense of being a regular guest or customer at a certain establishment.

You would most often hear it used in reference to bars, restaurants or cafés, but it also makes sense if you’re talking about another kind of shop or service, such as a hairdresser, bookshop, or really anything else you use regularly, and it can also be translated as “loyal customer”.

The transfer of money is not a requirement, so you can be a stammis på biblioteket (a regular at the library) or a stammis på forumet (a regular on the online forum).

It’s a noun, so you could say something like jag är stammis på baren (I’m a regular at the bar) or här är han stammis (he’s a regular here).

Stammis comes from the compound nouns stamkund (regular customer) or stamgäst (regular guest) but those two words sound much more formal than the colloquial stammis with the typical -is ending that pops up in a lot of Swedish slang words.

  • Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading our new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.

Stam itself is a noun, which can refer to the trunk of a tree and can also mean “tribe/clan/family”, so the idea is that if you’re a stamkund, you’re a customer who’s almost part of the family.

Usually, you would say that stammis isn’t a formal label; it’s more about feeling a sense of attachment to the location and perhaps building up a relationship with the staff, but at some places there’s a formal scheme so that you can sign up as a stammis in order to get discounts and special offers.

This might be by signing up to a loyalty card (bonuskort) or paying a membership fee that is worthwhile for frequent customers.

Examples

De flesta av våra kunder är stammisar

Most of our customers are regulars

Jag känner mig som stammis här och det är så mysigt

I feel like a regular here and it’s so nice

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.

Member comments

  1. The word is, or was when I lived in Sweden, “stammkund”. I can’t see what “abbreviating” (still two syllables) it achieves. I would describe such Swedish usage as “slarvig” (your next word of the day).

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For members

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.

Published: 11 June 2024 15:25 CEST
Updated: 12 June 2024 15:11 CEST
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 US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.

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