37 Comments
888
It is never pronounced as an m, but maybe the TTS is slightly unclear here. Hear a native speaker say it here: http://sv.forvo.com/search-sv/brev/
Well now I know I'm not going crazy... Not quite sure how I should pronounce it!
The word Hogwarts when British saying it sound like awkward for me an indonesian. This always happen when i try to make voice chat with them.
Du = singular You (one person). Ni = plural You (more than one person). "Ni" can also be used as singular in formal or polite occasions, but that is old-fashioned.
"Ni" as formal singular is not old-fashioned, but a misunderstanding made by several younger people in Sweden. It was rather used to mark class differences and create distance between people and we have worked hard to get rid of it.
In the 1960s and 70s there was a "du-reform" in Sweden where all people started to say "du" to each other to improve equality in society. Recently, influence from other European languages has made young Swedes believe that "ni" was used in the same way as "vous" in French or "Sie" in German, but the emotions for "ni" have never really been quite the same.
You should not try to use "ni" as formal you since many older people in Sweden may feel offended.
Thank you for the very interesting comment! I love to hear about the history and social context of the languages I'm learning too!
I like the last information about we should not try to use ni as formal. I should remeber that. I dont want to get slapped by them just because of misunderstanding.
But i heard 'du ar ett brev' am i wrong guys or the narrator is a bit confusing
The text-to-speech pronounces it very unnaturally, but I hear the h in there
It does, I'm with you. If you were speaking to someone they would understand what you were saying.
you have to listen to the context, and in most cases "har" will always sound as "ar".
To me brev sound like breyer. Am I hearing it wrong or is this how it is pronounced?
Could you help me?
Where can I looking for words? For example, what you wrote. "brev"-/bre:v/
I would like to see all of the words, what I learnt here :)
Update: I found this: http://lexin.nada.kth.se/lexin/#searchinfo=both,swe_swe,man; I understand only one thing... How I write a word when I try to speak... It is enough to me:)
- 1685
I found this one. It seems that it is not yet finished, but looks authentic. http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/
Or you can check Wiktionary for meanings. :)
- 1436
Du and De are indistinguishable on this computer generated audio.. it's awful.
“Ni” is the plural “you”, “Du” is singular – like the old English pronouns thou and ye.
