As an expat in Sweden (although I do speak Swedish), I sometimes find it difficult not to laugh at some of the Swedish words that have the exact same spelling of English words, but mean something extremely different.
Amazingly enough, some of these words are so commonly used that you can almost hear or read them many times a day.
Here’s a list of 7 words that I think English speaking people shouldn’t be confused about when they come to Sweden. *
1. Bad:
The “A” in Swedish is pronounced like “Ah” which means that this word “bad” is not the one that you’re familiar with, but is pronounced “b(ah)d”.
Apart from how it’s pronounced,
Bad (n) = Bathroom (or pool sometimes as you can see in the pic)
Bad (v) = Past tense of the verb “Ber” which means “Ask for/Pray”
2. Barn:
Although it sounds almost the same in English and Swedish, the Swedish “barn” means “children”…
3. Gift:
First things first. This one is pronounced as “Yeft” (the G sounds much like the Y in many Swedish words particularly when followed by a vowel).
Gift (or Yeft) interestingly has 2 meanings in Swedish which you can use your imagination to correlate.
Gift (adj) = Married
Gift (n) = Poison
Crazy, huh?
4. Bra:
Bra is one of the most commonly used words. You’ll hear it very often on daily basis and knowing what it means, you’re going to end up using it as well 🙂
Bra means “good”
Bra, eh?
5. Puss:
It sounds almost the same and it refers to something that you can consider “nice”
Puss (n) = Kiss
6. Kiss:
Although replaced by “Puss”, “Kiss” still exists as a word in Swedish and has the exact same pronunciation as its English counterpart.
Sorry to disgust you, but…
Kiss (n) = Urine
So, yes… Be careful when you’re publicly repeating the word “Kiss”
7. Fart:
To make things short,
Fart (n) = Speed
Add (In) before it “Infart” and you get the word “Entrance”
Add (ut) before it “Utfart” and you get the word “Exit”
And finally,
Slut:
The “u” is pronounced more or less like “ew”, so it doesn’t sound like the English word and it means something extremely different.
Slut (n) = End
One of the funniest situations is when you take the bus or train for the first time in Sweden and see this word “Slutstation” which means “Last station” 🙂
* There are many more words that I didn’t include because I thought it is inappropriate to include them here, but if you’re curious, you can Google “English words that mean something else in Swedish” and you’ll find more!
Nice collection
The first time I took my best friend to Ropsten T-Bana (as you might know the end of the red-line), he was like, what….? You live close to a slutstation? 😀 How awkward is that! 😀
I actually remembered that story when I was writing the post. I know that it happened to many people (including myself :D)
Slutstation is funny, but the participants in Swedish Idol are trying to get to the “slutaudition”
Mina, this post is brilliant!!! I never came to think about barn and gift 🙂
the word ‘barn’ is also used for ‘child’ in Scotland and also in northern England, I think. The anglo-saxon word is bearn. The word ‘gift’ in the meaning ‘married’ is related to the english word ‘gift’. It has to do with something that is ‘given’, with the meaning ‘dowry’ in modern english.
Interesting! But what about its other meaning “poison”, where did it come from?
the word ‘barn’ is also used for ‘child’ in Scotland and also in northern England, I think. The anglo-saxon word is bearn. The word ‘gift’ in the meaning ‘married’ is related to the english word ‘gift’. It has to do with something that is ‘given’, with the meaning ‘dowry’ in modern english.
Gift in the meaning ‘poison’ is more complicated. It has in some way to do with something that you drink, probably medicine. The meaning is maybe “what you give in”. “Dosis” comes from the latin verb ‘do’ which means ‘give’. The latin noun ‘potio’ with the meaning ‘drink’ or ‘draft’ is in french and english ‘poison’
In north and east Scotland, and north-east England, the word for child is ‘bairn’. (In west Scotland, it is ‘wean’.)
Mina, I can’t reply to your reply so I’ll continue the thread here.
According to German Wiktionary (https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gift) the German word “Gift” for poison (which is where we took it from) also comes from the meaning “to give” or “gift” (something which has been given) and has had the poisonous meaning since the 11ᵗʰ century.
In the 16ᵗʰ century the German word with meaning “poison” changed into neuter (das Gift), whereas the word with meaing “gift” remained feminine (die Gift). The latter word has since been replaced with “Gabe” (same meaning).
A compact etymology of the Swedish word can be found in Hellquist’s “Svensk etymologisk ordbok”: http://runeberg.org/svetym/0273.html (see 2ⁿᵈ meaning).
Hellquist also indicates that the meaning “married” originally comes from giving away the woman (for marriage) and that the “dowry” meaning was derived from that (and in modern Swedish “dowry” is called “hemgift”, i.e. “gift for the home”).
Nice post. I really enjoy your writing Mina. Guess who I am?
…
You know what, guessing is for “kiss”ies. It’s me, Youssef. Goodluck with your thesis.
What a surprise! Thanks for the positive comments! We should have a long talk some time soon. Let me know if you’re coming here as well;-)
One of my favourites is ‘ned’ (particularly ‘ej ned’ above escalators, but perhaps you have to be Scottish to appreciate it…
That made me laugh. I’ve lived in Glasgow. Now living in Aberdeenshire.
Reblogged this on Neville.
This is a small little verse that you learn as a child in sweden (or?): I (aj=ouch) buy (baj=shit) pink (pink=pee) sheet (skit=shit) for (får=sheep) kiss (kiss=urin)
The g is usually pronounced like y when followed by the vowels e, i, y, ä, ö and like the g in “go” when followed by the vowels a, o, u, å.
Thanks a lot for the detailed clarification 😉
…which is similar to how “c” is pronounced in English – “s” when followed by e, i, y (you don’t have ä and ö so we’ll have to leave them out) and “k” when followed by a, o, u (and probably after å, if you had that letter 😉 ).
“g” is also pronounced like y if it ends a word.
“g” is also pronounced like y if it ends a word.
–> Actually only if it ends in “rg” (like “arg”) or “lg” (like “helg”).
“g” is also pronounced like y if it ends a word.
–> Actually only if it ends in “rg” (like “arg”) or “lg” (like “helg”).
Ah, thanks for that, Charlotta, I had never thought about it being only in certain combinations.
It certainly is pronounced as in “go” in both “tagg” (thorn), “hög” (high), with “gg” and “g” being the only legitimate combinations of “g” at the end I can think of (except for “ng”, which is a special combination with a sound of its own (and it’s pronounced just like it’s English counterpart, as in “thing”)).
And thus we have Gothenberg) Goteborg, or Juteborye. No one except a Swede or scandinavian.
Let me just add that the Swedish word “puss” except from “kiss” also kan be a small puddle of water…
How about Godsexpedition? 😉
Shakespeare: ‘My puss (my bad slut in the barn), please take my gift and then my kiss and open then thy bra – well minding not to fart’ [Hamlet]
How about Plopp, the candy from Cloetta? Isn’t that what you call it when small children do number 2 in their daipers? 🙂
LOL, I think I didn’t include product names because they aren’t in some cases part of the language. Good one anyways 🙂
I hope you have seen the safety ad from the Swedish Road Administration – ” it’s not the fart that kills, it’s the smell”
Or in swedish: det är inte farten som dödar, det är smällen.
Lasse b
Your list makes me think about two signs placed at the entrance of the Marabou factory, located in central Sundbyberg untill a few years ago. One of the signs was ”.
The words of the signs dissappeared. The signs were Visitors and Gods
And you didn’t even mention the swedish word for “union”. 🙂 Or the classic mistranslation “I knocked my head against the wall, and there was an awful smell”. (Smäll = thump.)
I tried to avoid the “bad” words due to the nature of the whole blog, but of course the one you mentioned is a big confusing one especially with the addition of “et” 😉
On this theme, don’t forget “prick” either. As some unfortunate swenglish speaking businessmen have said: “If you look at the prick here…” Prick in Swedish means dot. 😉
My name is Jönsson, it is Jonsson with two pricks
There used to be a UK site called getfitta.co.uk which sold fitness products. They received a fair amount of e-mails from Sweden informing them that getfitta means “goat vagina” (although vagina should be replaced by a less decent word). Apparently, getfitta.co.uk got tired of the flak and changed names.
Puss is also used when we talk about water on the ground, after rain for example. ‘Vattenpuss’… 👍
Reblogged this on Blog de chaouki.
Came to think about a misstake my boss made at a conference with other CEO:s. He started the meeting by saying: “Welcome all VD:s”
…..followed by a long and painfull silence
Farthhinder = road bimp
mean bump
Farthinder = speed hump (bump)
In norwegan there are some male names that may seem funny to someone who speaks English. For example Odd and Dick.
Pippa is a funny name for us who speak Swedish, it means intercourse
“Gif” (sounds just like it looks, hard G) is the Dutch word for poison so I assume that and the Swedish use of “gift” to mean “poison” have the same roots, which may be totally different roots from the use of “gift” to mean “married.” Languages are so interesting.
Btw You know what “mina makar” means in swedish,right?
Unfortunately, I do! This is planned for another post. I have more stories to tell particularly about the name thing.
“It’s not the fart that kills, it’s the smäll!”
And also
“She wanted faster breasts”.
Something I’ve wondered about since 1968 is: Why do the Beatles sing “Obladi Oblada life goes on BRA”? Does that have anything to do with the Swedish meaning of that word? I mean, then the line world make sence.
Yep, that’s exactly how it is! 😀 They use the Swedish word for “good”!
Ha ha, nice! Swedish is a mischmasch of german and latin and english, or if it´s the other way around. Lot´s of words to get wrong:-)
the union in sweden is called facket
“Mina Makar” in Swedish = “My Husbands” :-). “Husband” means “the restaurants/establishments orchestra”. Stock=Log (of wood). Log=Smiled 🙂
That tram picture is from Helsinki/Finland 😉
Jeremy Clarkson got a lot of mileage out of “parkering”
Helpful
The most misleading phrase I’ve been able to construct is “Slutspurt med bra fart”.
Every summer I wonder what english-speaking tourists make of all the Bad campings that sprout.
[…] Swedish words that English speakers shouldn’t be confused about: […]
A sign in my home town at the old “Kallbadhuset” announces Bad Café
As you say, the Swedish word “barn” means child(ren). It much resembles the Scottish word “bairn”, which also means child.
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