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Swedish word of the day: vår

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Swedish word of the day: vår
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Here's a Swedish word that you may or may not feel hanging in the air.

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The noun vår is Swedish for spring, the season between winter and summer that many people in Sweden start longing for from, say, October onwards.

(Don't confuse the noun with the pronoun, the latter vår meaning "our", for example vår katt – our cat)

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Våren, the meteorological spring, officially starts in Sweden when daily average temperatures stay above freezing for a week. In 2024, it arrived in southern and south-western parts of the country on February 15th.

But most people probably only think of våren as having begun when the grey skies have cleared, the sun has appeared, and people in Sweden start to come out as if from a long hibernation.

With those first hesitant sun rays or vårsol (spring sunshine), masses take to the streets, start barbecuing in public parks, drink coffee on cafés' outdoor seating.

Others have their ritual vårstädning, their big springtime clean-up, inside their homes or outside in the yard. 

For some, vår means the onset of their pollenallergi or hay fever. For others, it mostly marks the northbound flight of migratory birds.

Vår is thought to be derived from the Low German vorjar, meaning "the first part of the year".

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Examples

Nu har våren kommit.

Spring has arrived.

I vår tänker jag gå ut och vandra.

This spring I want to go hiking.

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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