Reading Astrid Lindgren in Swedish, part 1

Okay, so today we're gonna look at some collection of quotes from the extended works of Astrid Lindgren, the famous author who used to publish books primarily for children, uh, that have reached a very wide audience. So we're gonna look at some quotes from her works. Nej, jag lider inte av fräknar, sa Pippi.

Då förstod damen. Men så kastade hon en blick på Pippi och utbrast: Ja men kära barn, du har ju hela ansiktet fullt med fräknar. Ja visst, sa Pippi, men jag lider inte av dem. Jag gillar dem.

God morgon.

So in this section, it's a quote from Pippi Långstrump, Pippi Longstocking. And it begins by saying, nej, no. Jag lider inte av fräknar, I'm not suffering from freckles. sa Pippi, said Pippi.

Men så kastade hon en blick, but she threw a, a glance, which is sort of similar to saying she glanced at Pippi. och utbrast, and exclaimed, and it's when you're saying something with a certain emphasis, right? Ja men kära barn, well, dear child, du har ju hela ansiktet, you have, ju is one of those filler words.

You could omit the ju and have du har hela ansiktet fullt med fräknar. But this is to point out something, so you add it on for sort of a emphasis. Du har ju hela ansiktet fullt med fräknar, you have your whole face full of freckles. filled with freckles. Javisst. Yes, indeed.

Sure. Javisst. Sa Pippi, said Pippi. Men jag lider inte av dem. But I'm not suffering. Lider is to suffer.

Jag lider, I suffer. Inte av dem, not of them. So I do not suffer of freckles, or suffer from them. I do not suffer from them. Jag gillar dem. I like them.

Gomorron. Good morning. And it's spelt in the way that you sort of pronounce it. And you'll also notice, for instance, that she spells dem as d-o-m, which is not the common way of spelling it, but it is the way that it is pronounced. And you'll see this very often, considering her audience is children.

You see the same in the beginning when it says sa Pippi. Often you'll see sade, s-a-d-e, but it's pronounced sa. So that's how she spells it. The same with gomorron, god morgon, which has been combined in the way that a person would say it normally. Gomorron, good morning.

Ja, du borde allt gå i skolan och lära dig skriva lite bättre, sa Annika. Det har jag gjort en gång en hel dag. Och då fick jag i mig så mycket lärdom så det ligger och skvalpar inne i skallen än. So here she's saying something, of course with a comedic touch. It starts out with ja, yes.

Du borde, you should, you ought to. Du borde allt gå i skolan.

You ought to go to school. Allt is all. To go i skolan, gå i skolan. Jag går i skolan, I go to school. Here it's i skolan, so it's literally it would be I go in school, in the school even. That's how you would say it in Swedish.

Och lära dig, and learn yourself, dig. And here it's spelled d-e-j, but the formal way of spelling it in writing is d-i-g. Of course you pronounce it dej, and considering that the target audience is children, she's spelling it the same way it's being pronounced. Of course that would make it a lot easier for all of us if it was always spelled the way that things are, you know, pronounced.

Och lära dig skriva, and learn yourself to write. Lite bättre, a little better. So you can learn to write a bit better. Sa Annika, said Annika.

Tack, sa Pippi, thank you, said Pippi, or just thanks. Det har jag gjort en gång, that I have done. Gjort is to do. Jag har gjort, I have done. Jag har gjort det, I have done it. Har du gjort det?

Have you done it?

En gång, one time. So she says I've done it one time, I've gone to school one time. En hel dag, a whole day. Och då fick jag i mig, and then I got in me. Då is then, fick is got. So I got, jag fick.

Jag fick fem kronor, I got five crowns. Då fick jag i mig, then I got in me. Once again, mej is spelled the way it's pronounced, usually spelled formally as m-i-g.

Then I got in me så mycket lärdom, so much knowledge or learning, because "lärdom" is related to "lära", which is to learn. It can also be to teach, interestingly enough.

Så det ligger och skvalpar inne i skallen än.

So it lies and sort of rattles around or ripples inne i skallen. "Inne" is inside. "I skallen", in the head or in the skull, to be precise. "Än", and "än" is yet. So it's still in there.

So she's saying, I went to school one day and that was enough for basically my whole life, because all of the knowledge that I gained from that day is still inside my head rattling around.

So let's look at a different excerpt. Lotta, du får inte prata när stora människor pratar. Du får vänta tills de har slutat.

Åhå, sa Lotta. Det har jag nog försökt, men det går inte, för de slutar ju aldrig.

Lotta, you can't talk when big people... "Du får inte", you are not allowed. "Prata", to speak. "När stora människor", when big people, and she's of course referring to adults.

When big people speak, when adults speak. Du får vänta tills de har slutat. You should wait. Here "får" is used as "you should". Du får vänta. It's like saying, du måste vänta, you must wait.

Du bör vänta is more, perhaps, formal. Du bör vänta.

Much more respectable. Must is måste, du måste vänta. That's much more authoritarian. Du får vänta is also very respectable. So you should wait. Tills de, till they, har slutat, have finished.

Oh, sa Lotta. Det har jag nog försökt. That I have probably tried. Har is have, jag is I, nog is one of those words that you don't really need. So you could say, det har jag försökt, that I have tried. However, nog here is sort of conveys the feeling of, you know, I've probably tried that, or I've sort of tried that, is perhaps even a better translation.

Det har jag nog försökt. That I have sort of already tried. That's what she's sort of trying to convey. Men det går inte, but it doesn't go. And you can use this sort of phrase in Swedish, men det går inte. Det går inte, it doesn't work.

It literally, it doesn't go. För de slutar ju aldrig. Or is because or for. For they never stop, because they never stop. De slutar, slutar is to stop, ju aldrig. De slutar aldrig.

Once again, ju is used for emphasis, so you could remove it altogether and still have a very coherent sentence. För de slutar aldrig. But of course, when you're speaking, you'll hear ju very often. Jag kommer ju, instead of just jag kommer. That's one of those things that you get a feeling for after having spoken the language for quite some time.