Reading Astrid Lindgren in Swedish, part 2

Let's explore a word that we saw in the text, and that's the word aldrig, never.

Aldrig i livet. If you never wanna do something that somebody tells you to do, you would say, aldrig i livet. Never in the life.

Which is equivalent to saying, never in my life. Will you eat this sandwich? Aldrig i livet, never in my life.

Vi ska aldrig göra det igen. We are never doing it again. We, vi, ska aldrig, are never doing it, göra det, igen, again.

Det finns människor man aldrig glömmer.

There are people, det finns människor, man aldrig glömmer, one never forgets. Man, aldrig, aldrig, never, forgets, glömmer. And of course you could say, det finns människor som man aldrig glömmer. There are people that one never forgets. Just like in English, the "that" is sometimes omitted in Swedish. Whereas in certain other European languages like Spanish, you wouldn't omit it, you would keep the "that" in the sentence.

Whereas in both Swedish and English, you can sometimes just omit it and it still retains the same meaning.

Den där farbrorn har en vårta på hakan. Tyst, viskade mamma. Han kan höra det.

Då såg Lotta så häpen ut och sa, vet han inte om det själv, att han har en vårta på hakan?

Now, this is a conversation between two people. So it starts with, den där farbrorn. That uncle, den farbrorn, you could also say, but here she's saying den där and sort of pointing. So you use it when you want sort of talking about something within a distance, den där mannen.

That person, that man. Here she's using farbror. Farbror literally means uncle, it actually means paternal uncle. So you have morbror, which is for the mom's brother, farbror, literally father's brother. So it's the paternal uncle, the uncle from your father's side. So den där farbrorn, that uncle.

And it's used by children, particularly in the past, these days perhaps not as much, to refer to older people. So it's a respectful thing. You have this in a lot of cultures, you have this in the Desi culture for instance, you have they say uncle and auntie. You have this in the Middle East, you find it in Arabic, ammo, in Somali, adeer.

The first time somebody called me an adeer, an uncle, was eye-opening because that meant I was old. So if a child calls you auntie or uncle, you know that you've reached a certain age in those cultures. So in Swedish you have the same system. You can use farbror to refer to an older person with respect. And this is perhaps dying out in these days.

So for the new generation, the whole using farbror in Sweden is not as common as before. But of course, Astrid Lindgren is writing these books a long time ago. It's not completely uncommon, but it's certainly not as common as it was back in the day. Den där farbrorn, that uncle, har en vårta, has a wart, på hakan, on his chin. Literally on the chin.

If we're gonna translate it better, it shouldn't be on his chin, it should be har en vårta på hakan, on the chin. But of course referring to his chin.

Viskade mamma. Silent or, you know, quiet, viskade mamma, whispered mom. Han kan höra det. He can hear that, han kan höra det. Då såg Lotta så häpen ut. Then Lotta looked so amazed, so after the mom said this, Lotta looked very amazed.

Och sa, and said: Vet han inte om det själv? Does he not know that himself, or doesn't he not know that self, literally, han själv. Vet han inte om det själv? Doesn't he know that himself? Att han har, that he has, en vårta på hakan, a wart on the chin.

När en del tycker att man är stor och en del tycker att man är liten, så är man kanske alldeles precis lagom gammal.

När en del tycker, when some people think, and here of course it doesn't literally say people, it says en del, which is a part, when a part, and it's referring to people, when some, just like in English you could say when some argue this, you're of course talking about some people. When some think, tycker.

Tycker is to think with an opinion, so jag tycker att, I think that. It's really I have the opinion that, tycker can be used to express opinion. It can also be used to express something that you like, so jag tycker om, you would have to say then, I like, tycker om. But in this case it's talking about expressing your opinion about what you think about something, so when some people think.

Tycker, some say. Of course, it's when some people say, but you don't need to say people because it's implied. So, when some people, när en del tycker, tycker is to think, but in terms of an opinion. Jag tycker det, I think so, or jag tycker att, I think that. Att man är stor, that one is big.

Once again, when you want to talk about general things, you can use man in Swedish. Att man är stor, that one is big.

So when some people think that you're big, that's how you would perhaps translate it in English. Och en del tycker, and some people think, att man är liten, that one is small. So when some people think you're big and when some people think you're small, så är man kanske, so is one maybe, literally. Alldeles.

Alldeles is like just. Alldeles, like perfectly, alldeles precis. Not just precisely, but all too precisely. Alldeles, all too precisely. Lagom. Lagom is a very Swedish word.

It doesn't really have an equivalent in English. Sometimes they say just right, they say moderate, but lagom is something that's not too extreme and not too extreme to the other side either. When you want to express a feeling about something being just right, you say lagom. Lagom mycket, just perfectly right. Lagom is not being too extreme, it's being very sort of moderate.

Gammal is of course old. When some people say that you're big and when some people say that you're small, that's sort of an indication you're precisely the right age.

Och timmarna gick. Junisolen fortsatte att ösa sitt frikostiga solsken över dem. Och de låg där och kände sommaren som något skönt och obeskrivligt och lättjefullt i hela kroppen.

Och timmarna gick, and the hours went, and the hours went on. So timmarna, the hours, gick is to the past of go, so went. The hours went. Junisolen, it's two words, juni is the month June, solen is the sun, so the June sun, or the sun of June. Fortsatte att ösa, continued to pour.

Ösa is to pour. Sitt frikostiga, its, sitt is its, frikostiga is sort of generous or very luscious. Solsken, sunshine, över dem, over them. Och de låg där, and they lay there, och kände sommaren, and felt the summer. Kände, past of to feel, so they felt. Jag känner, I feel, du känner, you feel.

Sommaren, the summer, som något skönt, as something pleasant. Skönt is pleasant, it's nice. Det är skönt, it's very nice, it's very comfortable. Och obeskrivligt, and indescribable, obeskrivligt. So in Swedish, as you've seen before, beskrivligt means something that you can describe, obeskrivligt is indescribable, so you put the o before.

Och lättjefullt, and carefree, lättjefullt. I hela kroppen, in the whole body. So they felt this feeling of indescribable pleasantness and carefreeness throughout their bodies.