Particle verbs for devices and arrangements (sätta på, ringa upp)

Switching On and Off

Swedish turns devices on and off with particle verbs, and the particles are fixed: sätta på (to turn on) and stänga av (to turn off). Note that sätta på is the same sätta you met as to put — with , it means to start something running.

sätta påradion, lampan, musiken
stänga avtelefonen, datorn, radion
Turn off the radio, please!
Stäng av radion, tack!

Printing, Calling, Inviting

Skriva ut is to print out — literally to write out. Ringa upp is to call someone on the telephone; the bare ringa you already know does the same job, and the particle adds the sense of getting hold of them.

Bjuda in is to invite. The bare verb bjuda means to offer or to treat, so the particle is what makes it an invitation.

We are inviting all the neighbours.
Vi bjuder in alla grannar.

Moving In

Flytta in is to move in, and its opposite is flytta ut. Both keep the preposition that follows separate: flytta in *i huset*.

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