More everyday verbs (lägga, sätta, lära)

Putting Things Down: lägga and sätta

At lesson 25 you met lägga sig (to lie down) and sätta sig (to sit down). Without the reflexive pronoun, both verbs take an object and mean to put: lägga puts something down flat, sätta puts it upright or in place.

reflexivetransitive
lägga sig — to lie downlägga — to lay, to put down
sätta sig — to sit downsätta — to put, to place
lära sig — to learnlära — to teach
I put the book on the table.
Jag lägger boken på bordet.

Teaching and Learning

The same pattern gives lära: with the reflexive it is to learn, without it, to teach. Swedish also has undervisa for classroom teaching, but lära is what you will hear.

Låta, arbeta, vakna

Låta is to sounddet låter bra is one of the most useful short replies in the language. Arbeta is the formal twin of jobba. Vakna is to wake up, and it is intransitive: you wake up, you do not wake up something.

I wake up early in the morning.
Jag vaknar tidigt på morgonen.

Contributors