Two Registers, Not One Vocabulary
Swedish keeps a clear line between what is written and what is said, and B1 is where you start needing both sides of it. Every word in this lesson has a more formal sibling you already know.
| spoken | written / formal |
|---|---|
| snacka | prata, tala |
| funka | fungera |
| grejen | saken |
| tjejen | flickan |
| grabben | pojken |
Snacka is to chat. It is not rude, but you will not find it in a contract. Funka is the clipped everyday form of fungera — Swedes say funkar det? far more often than fungerar det?
| My phone is not working today. | Min telefon funkar inte idag. |
People, Informally
Tjejen and grabben are the everyday words for a girl and a boy. Tjejen is used of grown women as freely as of children, which flickan is not. Ungen is the kid — affectionate from a parent, dismissive from a stranger. Idioten needs no explanation, and typen can mean the type of thing or, of a person, that bloke.
| The girl who called was my sister. | Tjejen som ringde var min syster. |
Two Reaction Words
Vadå is what you say when you did not catch something, or when you suspect a question is loaded: Vadå? — What do you mean? Jaså registers new information, somewhere between oh really and is that so — the tone does the rest.
| Oh really, I did not know that. | Jaså, det visste jag inte. |
