"Ja, ursäkta!"
Translation:Yes, excuse me!
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Very good word to know. I would say that we Swedes are on a daily basis 2,5 times as sorry as canadians 75% of the time.
I'm sorry we're not as apologetic as you Sweden. Oh, and I'm sorry if I shouldn't have apologized for that.
I just devised a useful way to remember this phrase. And that will be linking this to "ouh, sh*ta" exactly like the one who just erred would say
I was deciding whether I want to learn Swedish or German... I came up with the fact that Swedish is easier to learn (subjectively) even though German is much more spread
Having studied German in the past, I would tend to agree that Swedish is easier than German if you’re a native English speaker. The pronunciation rules are a bit closer to English, there are fewer noun forms to remember (two genders and two cases instead of three and four respectively, and there are fewer variations on forming plurals), verbs aren’t inflected for person or number, number ordering is like English, prepositions are simpler, and the lexicon is a bit closer to English due to Old Norse being a bit closer to Old Saxon than Old German and the fact that both English and Swedish have been influenced heavily by historical French.
Now, that said, that the sj sound is definitely more of an issue than any pronunciation quirks of Standard German.
Yes. If there's an "r" followed by an "s" the "s" is usually pronounced like "sh"
I did not think any nation could be sorrier than the English. I regularly hear people apologising when someone bumps into them, rather than the other way around. Still, I suppose it's better if two people, both bumper and bumped, apologise, rather than resort to fists.
In English, "sorry" is an adjective you can be. In Swedish, förlåt is the imperative of a verb. So saying jag är förlåt is like saying "I am forgive" in English.
As a Greek, I am used to "clean" vowels. I find it really challenging to pronounce it. But is this my impression or the "r" is silent here?
To my UK English ears I'm sorry is an apology for something I have done. Does it also mean Excuse me, can I get past?
i'm not a native speaker, but i'm assuming you could say something like "ursäkta mig, förlåt" or "ursäkta, jag är ledsen".
that is, if you haven't figured out the answer to your question yet.
Usually, although context may dictate preference. For instance, you wouldn't use ursäkta for a heartfelt apology when you're truly sorry for screwing something up, while it's probably a lot more common as a quick "oh, sorry" when bumping into someone. Honestly, the only way to learn these situations is probably trial & error. At least everyone will understand either way.
