Vi gick vilse och vände om.

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Breakdown of Vi gick vilse och vände om.

• vi: we
• gå vilse: to get lost
• vända om: to turn back

Questions & Answers about Vi gick vilse och vände om.

Why is it gick and not går?

Gick is the past tense of gå (to go / to walk).

• gå = infinitive
• går = present tense = go / am going / are going
• gick = past tense = went

So Vi gick vilse means We got lost / We went astray in the past.

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What does vilse mean here?

Vilse means lost or astray.

In Swedish, gå vilse is a very common expression that literally looks a bit like go lost, but it actually means get lost.

So:

• gå vilse = get lost
• Vi gick vilse = We got lost

This is one of those expressions that is best learned as a whole phrase.

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Why does Swedish say gick vilse for got lost?

This is just how Swedish expresses the idea idiomatically.

English often uses get + adjective/past participle:

• get lost
• get tired
• get angry

Swedish often uses other patterns. Here, Swedish uses:

• gå vilse = get lost

So even though gick normally means went, in this expression you should understand the whole phrase gick vilse as got lost.

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