Talking about the future with ska

So what was the word for today? We said the word for tomorrow was i morgon, imorgon. So how do you say today? It also starts with i.

Idag. So to say tomorrow in Swedish you would say in morning, literally, i morgon. To say today, you would say literally in day, in day, in this day. So today is idag. See if you can figure out how to say this: What are you doing today? And of course to say what, you would say vad.

Vad gör du idag? Vad gör du idag?

Okay, to say what will you do today, talk about something in the future, or something that you should do, you have one word which is extremely useful, which you will hear pretty much every day in Swedish, and that word is ska, ska. And it's used as will, shall, going to.

So vad ska du göra idag? What shall you do today? So vad ska du göra idag, you can pronounce this as ska as well, so you can say vad ska du göra idag. So when you say vad ska du göra idag, it's like what are you going to do today, what will you do today?

So it's not as strong as shall, really, but sometimes it can be used in that way as well.

Okay, so now let's look at this sentence: We will not do that. And you can use the same word as before, so see if you can figure out how to say that. And to say that, you would say det, so we will not do it, or we will not do that. sort of describing the same type of meaning, you can say "det", as in it.

Vi ska inte göra det.

Vi ska inte göra det. And remember when you're negating, when you're putting the "not", you put it after the changed verb. "Vi ska", and here comes the "inte", "ska inte göra det".

Okay, so let's make it into a question now. "Shall we do that? Should we do that?" This sort of meaning, "Shall we do that? Should we do that?" How would you say that?

Ska vi göra det? Ska vi göra det? Ska vi göra det?

And here, I've changed the word order, so "vi ska göra det" - we shall do that, and then mix the order so you get "ska vi göra det?" Okay, what about "Shouldn't we do that?" or "Shall we not do that? Shall we not do that? Shouldn't we do that?" How would you say that?

Ska vi inte göra det? So, you put the "inte" after the changed verb, after the "ska". So you can put it immediately after, like "ska inte vi göra det?", or you could put it after the "vi", the pronoun, the he, she, it, or we, so in this case "we" - "Ska vi inte göra det?" So you have two options.

"Why shouldn't we do it?" And if you forgot how to say "why", to say "why", you would say "varför".

So given that knowledge, How would you say why shouldn't we do that, or why shouldn't we do it?

Varför ska vi inte göra det? or: Varför ska inte vi göra det? Okay, so what was the word to say "need", as in "to need"? And remember that there's a similar English word.

So "to need", you would say: att behöva. And if you're struggling to remember it, think of "it behooves you". It's related to that word.

Okay, so ask someone, for instance you meet someone and you want to know: well, what do you need? How would you say that: what do you need?

Vad behöver du?

"I need to eat now".

And to say "eat", do you remember the word for "eat"?

Att äta. That's "to eat". And of course, "eat", when you change it, it becomes "äter". If you keep it in the dictionary form, like "to", then you say "att äta". So how would you say: I need to eat now?

Jag behöver äta nu.

And if you're saying, "Well, why don't I say 'Jag behöver att äta nu', to eat now?" In sentences like this, you can omit the "to". So you can say, "I need eat now", but you use the dictionary form. What about: she needs the book?

Okay, so to say "the book"... you would say boken, so hon behöver boken. We said the book, boken.

Okay, so now we have a longer sentence. "What do you want?

I want to have my book." So I ask someone, "What do you want? I want to have my book." See if you can figure that out, and take all the time you need.

Vad vill du? Jag vill ha min bok.

Very straightforward in Swedish. Vad vill du? What want you? Jag vill ha min bok. I want have my book.

"Where are you going?" To say "where", as in where are you going, in Swedish, you would say vart, vart. Given that knowledge, how would you say, "Where are you going?" Okay, so this one maybe was a bit trickier, and that's only because in English we put in "are", right?

"Where are you going?" is the same as "where you go". So think of it that way, so "where you go". How would you say that in Swedish?

Vart går du? Vart går du? Or you can use the "ska" that we learned earlier and you can say, "Vart ska du gå?" Vart ska du gå? Where shall you go?

Or you can simply say, "Vart går du? Where go you?" And the order is inverted because it's a question.