20 HILARIOUS SWEDISH SAYINGS & IDIOMS 🇸🇪 → 🇺🇸 EXPLAINED

Поделиться
HTML-код
  • Опубликовано: 21 ноя 2024

Комментарии • 135

  • @vanidge
    @vanidge Год назад +24

    I'm from New Zealand working in Sweden and these videos are a great insight into the Swedish people, they are also a lot of fun, please keep it up! Tack så mycket

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад +1

      Oh how fun! :D thanks so much!

  • @JanAinali
    @JanAinali Год назад +4

    "Att gå som katten runt het gröt" is the exakt opposite of "vara het på gröten". The cat is walking around it but never gets to it.

  • @KjellEson
    @KjellEson Год назад +9

    Riktigt bra gjort! Väldigt bra förklaringar. En eloge!👍

  • @jeanbloom7513
    @jeanbloom7513 Год назад +2

    My grandfather once told me "Du e riktic schlaba" (written phonetically) which he said meant "you're a regular slob." He was a little tipsy at the time but we had a great laugh.

  • @jenniferbjorklund4822
    @jenniferbjorklund4822 Год назад +2

    It feels like home to listen to your videos! I'm a Swede now living in the UK for ten years and it makes me smile to hear all these idioms. Some other idioms to add to your list is "fått om bakfoten" and "hellre pissa i stuprännan än stupa i pissrännan". 😂 I found your channel last week and have been binging since! Du visar verkligen var skåpet ska stå in your videos. Keep posting! ❤️

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад +1

      Hahah åh tack så jättemycket ❤️❤️❤️😂

  • @gregggullickson
    @gregggullickson Год назад

    “Clean flour in the bag” is my favorite. Enjoyed the post. You hit a home run.

  • @duikmans
    @duikmans Год назад +8

    Some Dutch/Flemish ones
    "gaat daarmee naar de oorlog" or "go to war with that one", meaning that someone is everything but bright
    "alsof er een engeltje op je tong pist" or "it's as if a little angel pees on your tongue", meaning that a drink is really delicious
    "iets aframmelen" or "to rattle something", meaning that you recite something dutifully and without inspirationt
    "met zijn voeten spelen" or "to play with his feet", meaning to fool someone (but not playful - most of the time-)
    we also use the "pest of cholera" one.

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад

      Oh thank you! I love the angel one haha, so funny!
      And cool that you have "pest or cholera"! I use it all the time in English lol

    • @georgeobrien9748
      @georgeobrien9748 Год назад

      Love that one.

  • @finnmccool3059
    @finnmccool3059 Год назад +2

    I love your video. My father was a first generation Swedish immigrant child, so I heard tagit på sängen a lot, but he became an English professor and taught Shakespeare. My favorite Shakespearian phrase is "hoisted by his own petard" which comes from the soldiers who would arm a catapult with the crane called a "petard" and would sometimes hook themselves by their own belt and hoist themselves into the air! Hoisted by his own petard! lol

  • @ohsoscenty6242
    @ohsoscenty6242 11 месяцев назад

    I recently found out in 49% Scandinavian and it makes me so happy watching and hearing about Scandinavia as a whole

  • @BertilRudolf
    @BertilRudolf Год назад +6

    het på gröten och som en katt kring het gröt betyder två olika saker. Den ena är att du är ivrig (och kan göra saker för tidigt) den andra betyder att du drar dig för att göra/konfrontera något/någon (av rädsla för att såra någon t.ex) fast du vet att du måste.

  • @jakesmith9987
    @jakesmith9987 Год назад +6

    My favorite is "don't bite the foot that stomps your grapes". It's a version of "don't bite the hand that feeds you". Don't be ungrateful to someone who is taking care of you. I liked "clean in the flour bag". It comes close to "pure as the driven snow", sort of.

  • @traceymoore291
    @traceymoore291 Год назад

    Your video opened up such a fantastic international dialogue. So much fun to read the comments from different countries. Thank you for that.😉 segment.

  • @MTimWeaver
    @MTimWeaver Год назад +7

    Inget att hänga i julgranen (“Nothing to hang on the Christmas tree) might translate well to the English expression (possibly just American, but I'm not sure), “Nothing to write home about”, which has that same idea of something not being that great, but maybe good enough, if I understand the meaning behind the Swedish phrase well enough.
    “Hey, I heard the apple pie down at the diner is really good. Have you tried it?”
    “Yeah. It’s ok, but nothing to write home about.”
    The idea is, as you probably guess, is that something is good enough that you’d take the time to send a letter back home to tell everyone all about The Thing being discussed.

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад +1

      Oh I'd never heard that one! So good!

    • @cynic7049
      @cynic7049 Год назад

      Yes, perfect fit.

  • @johnhall4146
    @johnhall4146 Год назад +12

    I think my favorite Swedish expression is “ingen ko på isen” or “no cow on the ice”, meaning there’s no urgency. I use this all the time, in both languages.

    • @Gudregerar7
      @Gudregerar7 Год назад

      Oj det har jag aldrig hört ens! 😁

    • @christopherx7428
      @christopherx7428 5 месяцев назад

      The whole expression is "Det är ingen ko på isen så länge rumpan är i land", that is "No cow on the ice as long a it has its rear end on land". I agree that the shortened one is more common though.

  • @traceymoore291
    @traceymoore291 Год назад

    Dropped behind the carriage in America is "fell off the turnip truck".😂

  • @devdroid9606
    @devdroid9606 Год назад +2

    May I make a suggestion for another video? How about making a video about Scandinavian names? You can start with Vigre Bohinen, and then explain the different naming conventions like in AndersSON, Dōttir etc. What are the different Scandinavian ethnicities like Sami or Goth and so on? How about your own? How common is it for a modern day Swede or Norwegian to marry someone from another country? What is the proportion of couples who have children, but are not married? Would you like to have children in your minimalist lifestyle? What is the difference between Pagan and religious holidays in Scandinavia (especially around Christmas time)? Are most Scandinavians today Lutheran and are they religious? Are there any religious political parties? These are just some questions I'd like to hear you talk about. Perhaps others may find them interesting too.

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад

      Such a fun video idea! :D I might answer some of these questions in my next Q&A video because they are very interesting.

  • @lhulugren5309
    @lhulugren5309 Год назад +1

    ”Fara omkring som en osalig ande” kunde varit med som ett uttryck.
    När någon rör sig nervöst och oplanerat.
    ”Move around like a spirit, who have not been saved”

  • @christianjansson6806
    @christianjansson6806 Год назад +3

    I would say that "het på gröten" is more negatively charged (like "lök på laxen"/"fuel on the fire") and "pang på rödbetan" is more positively charged (like "grädde på moset"/"icing on the cake"). So being on a date with someone that is "pang på rödbetan" is someone you'd most definitely would want to see again! 🙂

    • @Draco_Nex
      @Draco_Nex Год назад +1

      Where in Sweden do you live? Norrland? For me "Het på Gröten" is more like one who is a little to eager, keen, impatient, sometimes resulting in some kind of failure, but not all the time. And "Pang på Rödbetan" is someone who goes straight to the point, like doesn't make it a secret that person somehow want to get intimate right away.

  • @KalleJillheden
    @KalleJillheden Год назад

    My favorite: "tål att tänkas på"
    Translation: "endures to be thought about"
    Perfect when you're met with a new idea you don't want to conclude then and there. Like if you have a though decision to make that can be postponed, then that decision "endures to be thought about".

  • @dkwillrn
    @dkwillrn Год назад

    Its interesting to hear different cultural sayings! I am totally amazed with your english, I wish I could speak another language a perfectly as you do. Thanks for sharing

  • @lenanelson609
    @lenanelson609 Год назад +7

    Min favvis, som jag också ofta översätter till engelska för glada skratt är " det är ingen ko på isen" 🙄 Tycker också det är härligt att höra din skånska då och då. 🤗

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад +2

      Hahah, jag tycker det är så kul att översätta dem till engelska :D
      Tack :))

    • @perpetualbystander4516
      @perpetualbystander4516 Год назад +1

      Yeah, there's no cow on the ice. 😅

  • @lutgardcoud5994
    @lutgardcoud5994 10 месяцев назад

    Thanks! I ‘ m learning Swedish and I enjoyed your video! Tack ska du ha!

  • @creepei518
    @creepei518 Год назад

    Oh thats an interesting video. I am learning Swedish for actually no reason, I just gillar språket. And that video is pretty useful to expand my vocabulary.
    So I found some parallels to German: Nära skuter ingen hare is similar to "Knapp daneben ist auch vorbei" so basically "just off the mark is also a miss" | Balsam för själen is another example being: "Balsam für die Seele" pretty much 1:1 translated ;D
    Gå åt skogen could be "Ein Schuss in den Ofen" so a 'shot in the furnace' basically meaning that what you did was just a complete fail.
    And a last one is Visa vart skåpet ska stå. It is "Zeigen wo der Hammer hängt" so 'showing where the hammer hangs' basically but there are quite a lot of variations for this one ;D. Meaning the same of course as you said in the video.

  • @fredrickheden6050
    @fredrickheden6050 24 дня назад

    "Ingen ko på isen" - 'no cow on the ice' meaning there's no danger up front, at least no reason to hurry up. "Ingen fara på taket" - 'no danger on the roof'. Just about the same - no dangers ahead, at least nothing to get stressed about.

  • @1x56
    @1x56 Год назад +2

    Can't stop laughing at 💩 in the blue cupboard 😂 I'm just using that in English lol

  • @mommataurus7542
    @mommataurus7542 Год назад

    In the American south, we have an expression “no skin off my nose” which means something like it wouldn’t bother me.
    For example “you’re going to be late for i that meeting if you don’t hurry”
    You could reply “no skin off my nose” if you aren’t worried about it

  • @henningbartels6245
    @henningbartels6245 Год назад

    "To have skin on nose" reminded me on the German expression "To have hairs on the teeth" when someone is tough, straight forward.

  • @maurogonzalezn.5186
    @maurogonzalezn.5186 Год назад +2

    Very nice to watch this video. I enjoyed it a lot.
    I share one phrase from the several that I remembered (Mexico); "They only visit the cactus when it has fruits" - "Al nopal lo van a ver sólo cuando tiene tunas". The sense is that you only do that because you can get a benefit, but the rest of the time (the majority) you don't.

  • @winterradicallds8353
    @winterradicallds8353 Год назад

    Thank you so much for your video

  • @fluor-zc8dq
    @fluor-zc8dq Год назад +1

    My native laguage is Austrian German, and we use "Conditioner for the Soul" (Balsam für die Seele) and "deciding between plague and cholera" (zwischen Pest und Cholera entscheiden) too.

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад

      Oh I love to hear that! I think it's such a beautiful language written :)

    • @traceymoore291
      @traceymoore291 Год назад

      Interesting...in America "you are between a rock and a hard place". Definitely not my favorite expression, but yours reminded me of it.

    • @KalleJillheden
      @KalleJillheden Год назад

      @@traceymoore291 Another English alternative would be "pick your poison"

  • @Zwopper
    @Zwopper Месяц назад

    "Kasta ett getöga på" är ett fint uttryck också.
    Throw a goats eye on. IE shoot a glance at.

  • @larsjohansson442
    @larsjohansson442 Год назад +9

    Nära skjuter ingen hare kan man översätta med "close but no ciggar".

  • @hajen6502
    @hajen6502 Год назад +2

    Now you have planted your last potato Saga! How could you miss the most important one?

  • @fotoviano
    @fotoviano Год назад

    we do have the "hare" one in English: "close only counts in horseshoes" (and hand grenades)

  • @Martina1192
    @Martina1192 Год назад +1

    In Croatia/ Bosnia we also have conditioner for the soul, but it’s more like balm for the soul -melem za dušu. :)

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад +1

      Such a beautiful language!!!

    • @paulingvar
      @paulingvar Год назад

      Balsam actually means balm ;)

    • @TheMrtoast70
      @TheMrtoast70 Год назад +1

      Im Germany we also have that one here it is „Balsam für die Seele“ which is basically a direct translation from English/ Swedish one

  • @heretikpapy
    @heretikpapy Год назад

    You make us loooooove Sweden ! For sure ;)

  • @Ecthelion1967
    @Ecthelion1967 Год назад +2

    Intressant, men visar också lite på dialektala skillnader. Jag som inte är från Skåne eller de södra delarna skulle aldrig säga någonting annat än "Dra åt skogen".

  • @jberg6694
    @jberg6694 Год назад +2

    Thank youu👏👏

  • @balikris
    @balikris Год назад

    At least half of them we also use in Danish ... not so surprisingly. But others I've never heard before ... 8-)))

  • @furkanaydogan534
    @furkanaydogan534 Год назад +1

    Tack så mycket ❤😊

  • @neksraven
    @neksraven Год назад

    "Fine as Froghair!"

  • @georgeobrien9748
    @georgeobrien9748 Год назад

    Marvelous!

  • @sarahbailey6723
    @sarahbailey6723 Год назад +1

    1:42 This reminds me of the “almost” expression in American English. Something like almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. (There may be more to it.) Horseshoes is a game of skill that involves tossing a horseshoe at a pole and trying to get the inner part of the horseshoe to hit the pole and have it twirl around as it descends. (Might want to fact check the actual rules…my family make their own.) Apparently you can still get some points even if it doesn’t work out quite as you might like.
    And of course, with hand grenades, they, you know, have a sizable radius of destruction, so if you get close, that will be good enough.
    I think 90% of the time I heard a man say it and the other 10% it was a little boy, so… 🤷‍♀️

    • @patbarr1351
      @patbarr1351 Год назад

      "Close only counts in horseshoes." Meaning one's efforts weren't good enough. A more forgiving expression is "Close enough for jazz."

    • @maladict8891
      @maladict8891 3 месяца назад +1

      It is very much the same in meaning, yes!

    • @sarahbailey6723
      @sarahbailey6723 3 месяца назад

      @@maladict8891 Americans also say, "close, no cigar". I'm not sure how far back that expression dates. It's really only customary to celebrate births with cigars these days and only then the men and only if they are already smokers.

  • @grobariza
    @grobariza Год назад +1

    Some of my friends are Swedish somehow i find them different but interesting haha

  • @philipb2134
    @philipb2134 Год назад +1

    One of my favorite expressions in French us: :"donner sa langue au chat". It's to give your tongue to the cat, i.e. you are at a loss for words.

    • @cbjones2212
      @cbjones2212 Год назад +1

      The English equivalent is framed as a question "has the cat got your tongue?"

    • @philipb2134
      @philipb2134 Год назад

      @@cbjones2212 You got that one, one thumb up. Have you any signal English expressions which might seem weird to a French mind?

  • @jabberwalky1965
    @jabberwalky1965 Год назад +2

    Holz vor der Hütte haben - She has Wood in front of the hut - German idiom describing a woman with a large chest,

  • @RogerLindholm
    @RogerLindholm 9 месяцев назад

    Is i magen i fairly close to stay frosty but not in a military setting.

  • @VinlandAlchemist
    @VinlandAlchemist Год назад +5

    Often when someone seems very intelligent and alert, we say that they are very "sharp"... however, if we speak of someone who is *spectacularly NOT* very smart, we can say something like, "He's about as sharp as a bag of wet mice" - I often say this about myself ahahahaha 😄

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад +3

      Haha! We seem to have a lot of sayings about this! :D Maybe we weren't so smart? lol! I like "not the sharpest knife in the drawer"

    • @lhulugren5309
      @lhulugren5309 Год назад +3

      @@SagaJohanna ”Han har inte alla hästar hemma” ”He has not all horses at home” is an expression with same meaning.

    • @traceymoore291
      @traceymoore291 Год назад

      Not the brightest candle in the box....not the sharpest pencil in the case...not the sharpest tool in the tool shed...these are definitely Americanisms.😊

    • @VinlandAlchemist
      @VinlandAlchemist Год назад

      Another expression, from those of us of Mohawk (Kanienkeha:kha) heritage, we'd say (in English), "His cornbread isn't yet done in the middle" lol

    • @cbjones2212
      @cbjones2212 Год назад +2

      "he's a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock" Aussie equivalent.

  • @kwennerberg
    @kwennerberg Год назад +1

    My mother, a Swede born in 1919, when asked about the taste of something which is very bland would say "It tastes like sticking your tongue out the window". I, being American, cannot offer the Swedish. The image, however is amusing.

    • @MarkusOttosson
      @MarkusOttosson Год назад

      We have the same saying in swedish nowadays, but you add rain. Translates to "(it tastes) like sticking your tounge out the window when it rains"
      In swedish: "som att sticka ut tungan genom fönstret när det regnar"

  • @Number6_
    @Number6_ Год назад

    a lot of these seem to relate to the bed room.

    • @monikagoj5613
      @monikagoj5613 Год назад

      Not necessarily, she just gave many examples related to dating.

    • @Number6_
      @Number6_ Год назад

      @@monikagoj5613 who's objective seems to be the bedroom.

  • @perpetualbystander4516
    @perpetualbystander4516 Год назад +1

    Bang on the beaver might explain it a little bit better. 😜

  • @drontobil
    @drontobil Год назад

    Vi får komma ihåg att betydelsen av idiom ändras över tid, i olika landsdelar och t o m olika familjer.
    Alldeles exakta betydelser skiftar alltså. Min favvo är: "Det finns fler än ett sätt att flå en katt!"
    de SA3BOW

  • @MKL_D
    @MKL_D Год назад

    😂bang on the beetroot. I can't wait to use it.

  • @mikkokorperich4151
    @mikkokorperich4151 Год назад

    Funny how some of them are also used in Finnish even though the languages are totally different.

    • @marianne8280
      @marianne8280 Год назад

      For seven hundred years Finland Was a part of Sweden. Maybe it is because of that the idioms is the same.

  • @alecb.7696
    @alecb.7696 Год назад +2

    Hello, Saga. This was a fun and light-hearted video, that made me smile!
    I like > (probably due to growing up with J R R Tolkien, The Hobbit in particular ...) and, especially, >!😅
    The culture in the UK has become rather too much >, following the US as we do in all things. (I like how flaunting status was really not the Swedish culture - is that still the case? I last visited in 2015, and it was definitely different in a good way to the UK in this respect ... .)
    As for British expressions that confuse people from other countries: "How do you do." on meeting someone is not a question, but a slightly old-fashioned or formal equivalent of "hello". The right response is also "How do you do.", not "Great, thanks.".
    If actually asked how you are doing as a question, "Not too bad." is a British response that covers everything from abject despair to being on top of the world. We still practise laconic understatement ...
    You may find this funny (if YT allows me to post a link): polish2english.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/55551980-anglo-eu-translation-guide1.pdf

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад +1

      Thanks so much Alec! Glad you liked it!
      I like your incorporation of the expressions haha :D I think we're still quite against flaunting in general, however, with social media and a growing influence from immigrants it is changing. A lot of the second immigrant generation kids come from very different backgrounds, and are pressured by their parents to only pursue "status" careers.
      How do you do - confused me so much as a young adult. We were taught in school (not sure why, it wasn't that long ago haha), that in England you say "How do you do?" and respond "How do you do?". Moving to Paris at 18 and working with British people, "How do you do?" did not come in handy.... It was rather "Hiya babes" that worked better! :D
      Oh I will watch it, thank you!

  • @thomasakerberg6765
    @thomasakerberg6765 Год назад +4

    Saga, "pang på rödbetan" är inte ett uttryck som bara anspelar på sex. I en vidare bemärkelse kan det också betyda att man inte har övervägt sina handlingar.

  • @rebeccakrupp9103
    @rebeccakrupp9103 Год назад +1

    👍

  • @caroleweston7563
    @caroleweston7563 Год назад

    Ooops. Here's an English one - "gone to the dogs" meaning it's got worse e.g. the cafe has gone to the dogs since the new manager took over. Or "monkey business" meaning getting into trouble e.g. I hope those two little boys don't get up to any monkey business outside in the garden.

  • @erikschmitz1841
    @erikschmitz1841 Год назад +1

    I would be curious to know what your favorite English idioms are, and what the equivalent Swedish translation would be.

  • @Stess-ky4gn
    @Stess-ky4gn 2 месяца назад

    Hell's bells and little catfish. It' an OLD expression out of New York from the early part of the 1900s.
    Swedish translation . . . I don't speak Swedish. More's the pity. (To my sorrow)
    Something that has gone bad. A longer more drawn out version of 'Damn'.

  • @lhulugren5309
    @lhulugren5309 Год назад +3

    ”Ont krut förgås inte”, vilket är en felöversättning av tyska ”Unkraut vergeht nicht”, alltså ogräs och inte ont krut.
    In english: ” Evil gunpowder will not be destroyed” Try to explain this in english..😅

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад +1

      🤣🤣🤣

    • @MarkusOttosson
      @MarkusOttosson Год назад

      En variant, en specifik sådan, på "ränderna går aldrig ur"...

  • @neil5307
    @neil5307 Год назад

    Great vid, but English should be marked with the British flag surely ? It is where the English language is from.

  • @larrybergh4211
    @larrybergh4211 Год назад

    Uffda

  • @andersandersson4636
    @andersandersson4636 Год назад +1

    Tummen mitt i handen

  • @MarkusOttosson
    @MarkusOttosson Год назад

    "Dra dit pepparn växer" is a bit odd. "Leave/go to where the pepper grows".
    Assumingly far away I guess. Or does pepper grow in hell perhaps?

  • @nackros4236
    @nackros4236 Год назад

    Skita i det blå skåpet, måste vara något skånskt uttryck för jag har aldrig hört det förut🤔

    • @monikagoj5613
      @monikagoj5613 Год назад

      Det tror jag inte, jag har hört det massor med gånger. Har släkt från Sundsvall och bott i Stockholm hela mitt liv.

    • @soderlund3610
      @soderlund3610 Год назад

      Är vanligt i Småland

  • @caroleweston7563
    @caroleweston7563 Год назад

    Here's an English one -

  • @muppet64
    @muppet64 Год назад +3

    So annoyed that you used the US flag to denote English language. Forgiven if you don't do it again 🙂

  • @robertcox5861
    @robertcox5861 9 месяцев назад

    att glida in på en räkmacka slide in on a shrimp sandwich to get a position undeservedly

  • @thomasroth4533
    @thomasroth4533 3 месяца назад

    Det heter "visa var skåpet ska så" och inte vart!

    • @lisbetho6796
      @lisbetho6796 2 месяца назад

      I Skåne säger vi "vart"

    • @thomasroth4533
      @thomasroth4533 2 месяца назад

      @@lisbetho6796 Det gör vi verkligen inte. Bara obildade fubbickar säger vart.

  • @cookies6455
    @cookies6455 Год назад +2

    Why the Us-flag? The language is English, represented by the UK-flag.... 🙄

    • @SagaJohanna
      @SagaJohanna  Год назад +1

      Most of my viewers are from the us :)

    • @cynic7049
      @cynic7049 Год назад +1

      If it English shouldn't it be represented by the English flag?

  • @birgerfurugard7259
    @birgerfurugard7259 3 месяца назад

    Alot of dating examples.
    Women...

  • @velonico
    @velonico Год назад

    I'm a Swede in Chicago... have no understanding of my heritage. Thanks for the lesson! One thing I've learned... We're Globetrotters! How do you say that one?❤