LESSON NOTES

Upper Beginner S1 #17

Are Your Coworkers Doing Their
Jobs Right in Sweden?

CONTENTS
2
2
3
3
4
5
7

Swedish
English
Vocabulary
Sample Sentences
Vocabulary Phrase Usage
Grammar
Cultural Insight

17

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SWEDISH
1.

Emma:

Simon, har du sett Anna?

2.

Simon:

Ja, jag tror att hon gick hem precis innan lunch.

3.

Emma:

Innan lunch? Varfr det?

4.

Simon:

Jag tror att hon bara skulle jobba halvdag idag.

5.

Emma:

Jas? Men hon sammanstllde vl rapporten innan hon gick?

6.

Simon:

Jag vet inte, men jag antar att hon gjorde det.

7.

Emma:

Jag hoppas verkligen det. Jag behver den rapporten idag.

8.

Simon:

Har du tittat i ditt postfack? Jag tror att jag sg Anna lgga ngot dr.

ENGLISH
1.

Emma:

Simon, have you seen Anna?

2.

Simon:

Yes, I think she went home just before lunch.

3.

Emma:

Before lunch? Why?

4.

Simon:

I think she was only supposed to work half a day today.

5.

Emma:

Really? But she did compile the report before she went, right?

6.

Simon:

I don't know, but I guess she did.

CONT'D OVER
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7.

Emma:

I really hope so. I need that report today.

8.

Simon:

Have you looked in your mailbox? I think I saw Anna put something
there.

VOCABULARY
S w e dish

English

C lass

att anta

to guess

verb

halvdag

half a day

noun

i dag

today

adverb

att sammanstlla

to compile

verb

att tro

to think

verb

rapport

report

noun

verkligen

really

adverb

att hoppas

to hope

verb

postfack

mailbox

noun

att lgga

to put

verb

SAMPLE SENTENCES
Jag vet inte, jag antar bara.

P fredag jobbar jag bara halvdag.

I dont know, Im only guessing.

On Friday, I work only half day.

Jag ska trffa Camilla idag.

Idag ska jag ka hem.

Ill meet Camilla today.

"Today I'm going home."

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Det tar evigheter att sammanstlla den

hr rapporten.

Jag tror det kommer regna imorgon.

I think itll rain tomorrow.

Its taking forever to compile this report.

Det r svrt att tro att Lisa skulle gra
ngot sdant.

Rapporten var lng och trkig.

The report was long and boring.

"Its hard to believe that Lisa would do

such a thing.
Du mste skriva klart rapporten innan
fredag.

Ska du verkligen g ut ikvll?

Are you really going out tonight?

You have to finish the report before

Friday.
Jag hoppas du blir frisk snart!

Vilket postfack r ditt?

I hope you will get well soon!

Which mailbox is yours?

Var kan jag lgga dina nycklar?

Jag lgger den hr borta.

Where can i put your keys?

Ill put it over here.

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

att hoppas ("to hope")
In this lesson's dialogue, we introduced the verb att hoppas. Att hoppas translates to the verb
"to hope," and we use it when we want to communicate that we want something to happen. In
this lesson's dialogue, Emma uses it when she tells Simon that she really hopes that Anna
had finished the report before going home by saying Jag hoppas verkligen det, meaning "I
really hope so."
We can also use att hoppas together with the preposition p, att hoppas p, and then we use
it when we're talking about wanting a certain condition or outcome. Let's look at some
examples that illustrate this.

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For Example:
1.

Jag hoppas p en varm sommar i r.

"I'm hoping for a warm summer this year."

2.

Lisa var trtt och hoppades p en stillsam kvll.

"Lisa was tired and hoped for a quiet evening."

att lgga ("to put")

The verb att lgga can be a tricky verb because it can mean more than one thing. In this
lesson's dialogue, we used it in a way that corresponded to the English verb "to put," and we'll
talk more about the usage of verb in an upcoming lesson. Here, we'll instead focus on when
att lgga corresponds to the English "to rest," "to go to bed," or "to put someone else to bed.
Let's look at some examples.
For Example:
1.

Jag gr och lgger mig p soffan ett tag.

"I'll go and rest on the couch for a while."

2.

Det var sent, s Malin stngde av Tv:n och gick och lade sig.
"It was late, so Malin shut off the TV and went to bed."

3.

David hade precis lagt Elsa, nr Emma kom hem.

"David had just put Elsa to bed when Emma came home."

GRAMMAR
The Focus of This Lesson Is to Learn to State What You Believe.
Ja, jag tror att hon gick hem precis innan lunch.
"Yes, I think she went home just before lunch."

In this lesson, we'll learn how to state that we believe something by using sentences similar to
the once appearing in this lesson's dialogue. Let's look at two examples.
For Example:

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Jag tror att hon bara skulle jobba halvdag idag.

1.

"I think she was only supposed to work half a day today."
Jag vet inte, men jag antar att hon gjorde det.

2.

" I don't know, but I guess she did."

Both of these sentences are examples of sentences where the speaker states that he
believes something, but the first sentence uses the verb att tro, meaning "to think," and the
second sentence instead uses the att anta, meaning "to guess" or "to assume." In this lesson,
we'll learn to form statements where we express that we believe something by using both of
these verbs, but we'll start with the sentences using the verb att tro ("to think"). The verb tror
corresponds to the English verb "think," but we only use tror in Swedish when we want to
state that we believe something but we cannot really be sure that what we believe is actually
true. Hence, we cannot use it to state an opinion or when we talk about the activity of using
our brain. Here, we instead need to use verbs like att tycka and att tnk. Let's look at some
sentences that illustrate these differences.
For Example:
1.

Jag tror att det ska regna imorgon.

"I think it will rain tomorrow."

2.

Jag tycker att du borde ta ngot.

"I think you should eat something."

3.

Var tyst! Jag frsker tnka".

"Be quiet! I'm trying to think."

Let's now move on and look at how we can form sentences using the verb att tro ("to think") to
state that we believe something. To form these types of sentences, we can simply use the
following formula: jag tror att ("I think") followed by a statement, such as det kommer regna
imorgon ("it'll rain tomorrow"). Let's look at some examples of sentences that use this formula.
For Example:
1.

Jag tror att Lisa har gtt hem.

"I think Lisa has gone home."

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Jag tror att Karin kommer komma hem snart.

2.

"I think Karin will come home soon."

Similarly, with the help of the verb att anta, meaning "to guess" or "to assume," we can make
sentences where we state that we believe something by using the formula jag antar att ("I
guess" or "I assume") followed by a statement. Here are some examples.
For Example:
1.

Jag antar att Lisa gick hem fr hon hade feber.

"I assume Lisa went home because she had a fever."

2.

Jag antar att det r okej.

"I guess it's okay."

CULTURAL INSIGHT
What Hours Do You Work in Sweden?

In this lesson's dialogue, Simon tells Emma that Anna has gone home after lunch, since she
was only working half a day and this in not uncommon for workplaces in Sweden, especially
offices, since many of them use a flextime system. With a flextime system, the employees
themselves can to a greater degree regulate what hours of the day they're working, as long as
they work a certain amount of hours. Employing a flextime system can have both positive and
negative effects on the employee, since not all people are comfortable with managing their
own working hours, but Swedish research has shown that the overall effects of using flextime
are positive for both employees and employers.

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