Swedish present, past and future review

Okay. So how do you say, "Do you want water or food?" So if you forgot the word for "food", the word is mat. Mat.

Vill du ha vatten eller mat? "Water" is, of course, vatten, and "food" is mat.

"I want to have food, but not today." And do you remember how to say "but"?

Men. Men. Given that, how would you translate this sentence: "I want to have food, but not today"?

Jag vill ha mat, men inte idag.

"Do you want it or do you need it?" And here, you can use det, or you can use den. If we're talking about an object, like a physical object and not an abstract thought, then you would use den. Den. In this case, perhaps that's more suitable.

So once again, how would you translate, "Do you want it or do you need it?" Vill du ha den, eller behöver du ha den? So to say "or", you would say eller. Okay, so let's do a quick recap of all our pronouns, which, of course, at this point I believe you should have down to a T. So to say "I", you would say jag, and, of course, "you" would be du.

"He", "she": han, hon. it det or den you, plural ni they de and finally, we vi.

Okay, so those were the easy ones, because we've practiced them so many times. So now, we need to practice the possessive pronouns, meaning the pronouns that you use in order to indicate ownership of some sort. So, how would you say "my"? For instance, like, "my car"? How would you say "my"?

"min" or "mitt", depending on the word. So, "min bil", "mitt hus". What about "your"?

"din" or "ditt", once again, depending on the "en" or "ett". "his" or "her"? "hans", "hennes".

So, "hans bil", "hennes bil".

What about "its"? "dess", "dess".

"your"?

"er" or "ert", once again, depending on "en" or "ett". "their"?

"deras".

And finally, "our"?

"vår" or "vårt". In Swedish, it's actually a bit easier than English when it comes to the possessive pronouns because in English you would say, "your car" and then you would say, "the car is yours", so you would put on an S in order to show the ownership. However, in Swedish, you would say, "din bil", and you would say bilen är din.

So you don't change the word. It remains din or ditt or whatever it was in the beginning. Okay, so at this point, we're ready to talk about the future. So far, we've talked about the present, things that are happening right now.

Like for instance, how do you say, "I eat"?

Jag äter. That would be, "I eat". "I speak", how would you say that?

Jag talar. What about, "I spoke"? Like in the past, because we talked about the present, but we've also talked about the past. So, do you remember how to say, "I spoke"?

Jag talade. So for a-r verbs, it they ended with -ade: talade, presenterade, informerade, and so forth. And of course, we had one more way of going into the past, and that was by saying "have", so we could say, "I have presented".

How would you say that?

Jag har presenterat. And then you get presenterat, you get talat, har talat, har informerat, and so forth. So at this point, we're ready to talk about the future tense and how you can go into the future. And this is actually very easy because it's something that we've already practiced. So you can use a word that will help you to take things into the future.

So for instance, in English if you say, "I will come", then suddenly you're talking about something that's going to occur in the future. And all you did was you added on "will". I come, I will come. Now all of a sudden you're talking about the future. So you can do the same in Swedish.

So, for instance, how do you say: I eat today?

Jag äter i dag. Okay. So, "I eat today": Jag äter i dag.

And "I'm eating today", and of course it's the same thing: Jag äter i dag. So, in Swedish there's no difference between these two: "I eat" and "I am eating". I eat tomorrow. So, how would you say this?

Jag äter i morgon. Now we're sort of talking about the future because we added on "tomorrow". So, it's something that's not occurring now, but it's occurring in the future. "I eat tomorrow". But you use the same structure as the present. Okay.

So, we can use a word to help us to take things into the future, like "will" in English. We can use "ska". We've had this before: s-k-a, ska. It's also pronounced, sometimes, as "ska". Both pronunciations are correct.

So, "ska" or "ska". So, how would you say: I will ask him?

Jag ska fråga honom. Jag ska fråga honom. What about "you" plural, "you guys"? "You will eat here". How would you say that: You will eat here?

Ni ska äta här. Ni ska äta här. So now you're talking about something that's happening in the future.