Swedish word of the day: å
Let's look at one of the Swedish language's single-letter words.
Å is the 27th letter of the Swedish alphabet, and a surprisingly versatile word. To English speakers, it sounds a bit like the "au" in Paul.
So what does it mean? A few different things.
En å is the word for a river, stream or brook. The plural is åar.
- Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading The Local's new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button
Å is also common in place names. There are a total of 12 locations in Sweden called Å, and several others that use -å as a suffix, such as Skogså (literally "forest brook") in Norrbotten and Luleå, Piteå and Skellefteå in northern Sweden. The use of å in place names usually means the location is near a river.
It can also be an interjection, similar to "oh!", and usually expresses joy or surprise, but can sound slightly affected or old-fashioned. For example: Å, vad jag är glad! (Oh, how happy I am!)
In older Swedish, å was a preposition equivalent to "on" in English. Today it has been mostly replaced by på, but you will still see å in some set phrases such as å ena sidan... å andra sidan (on the one hand... on the other hand) or å någons vägnar (on someone's behalf). In the latter phrase, you can also use på.
And in dialect or informal Swedish, å can be used to replace the preposition att, especially when att is being used with a verb in the infinitive, for example jag glömde å göra det (I forgot to do it).
Å also features in a Swedish dialectal poem, in a line made up of single letters. You can read the full poem here, and the sentence goes: d'ä e å, å i åa ä e ö. In standard Swedish, that's det är en å, och i ån är en ö ("there is a stream, and in the stream there is an island"). If that confused you, don't worry – the whole point of the poem is about a city visitor failing to understand the dialect!
Examples
Jag ser en å
I can see a stream
Hon var å andra sidan jätteduktig
On the other hand, she was very competent
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 US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.
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Å is the 27th letter of the Swedish alphabet, and a surprisingly versatile word. To English speakers, it sounds a bit like the "au" in Paul.
So what does it mean? A few different things.
En å is the word for a river, stream or brook. The plural is åar.
- Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading The Local's new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button
Å is also common in place names. There are a total of 12 locations in Sweden called Å, and several others that use -å as a suffix, such as Skogså (literally "forest brook") in Norrbotten and Luleå, Piteå and Skellefteå in northern Sweden. The use of å in place names usually means the location is near a river.
It can also be an interjection, similar to "oh!", and usually expresses joy or surprise, but can sound slightly affected or old-fashioned. For example: Å, vad jag är glad! (Oh, how happy I am!)
In older Swedish, å was a preposition equivalent to "on" in English. Today it has been mostly replaced by på, but you will still see å in some set phrases such as å ena sidan... å andra sidan (on the one hand... on the other hand) or å någons vägnar (on someone's behalf). In the latter phrase, you can also use på.
And in dialect or informal Swedish, å can be used to replace the preposition att, especially when att is being used with a verb in the infinitive, for example jag glömde å göra det (I forgot to do it).
Å also features in a Swedish dialectal poem, in a line made up of single letters. You can read the full poem here, and the sentence goes: d'ä e å, å i åa ä e ö. In standard Swedish, that's det är en å, och i ån är en ö ("there is a stream, and in the stream there is an island"). If that confused you, don't worry – the whole point of the poem is about a city visitor failing to understand the dialect!
Examples
Jag ser en å
I can see a stream
Hon var å andra sidan jätteduktig
On the other hand, she was very competent
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 US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.
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