Two Body Parts the Course Has Been Missing
You have just learned that Swedish uses the definite article, not a possessive, for body parts: jag tvättar ansiktet, not mitt ansikte. Here are two more parts to use it on.
Ansiktet is the face. Knäet is the knee — you will also see the shorter knät, and both are correct.
| He washed his face in cold water. | Han tvättade ansiktet i kallt vatten. |
Naming People
Personen is the person as an individual — narrower than människan, which is the human being as a species or a moral subject. In a queue you are a person; in a poem you are a människa.
Ungen you met earlier as the informal kid. Älsklingen is darling — both the person and the word you call them. Doktorn is the doctor as a title and in everyday speech, where läkaren is the professional term: you go to läkaren and you say tack, doktorn.
Feelings About People
Lycklig is a deeper happy than glad — glad is a good mood, lycklig is a good life. Älskad is the participle loved. Gift is married; with a partner it takes med, which you already know as gift med.
| They have been married for twenty years. | De har varit gifta i tjugo år. |
