"Det tar ett halvår."

Translation: It takes half a year.

[ilenuca_mare]

can 'halvår' be used for age also? it is ok if i say 'barnet är halvår' or it has to be 'barnet är sex månader'?

[MartinKarlberg]

Not exactly, but you were close ;)
Then you would use 'halvt år' like in 'Barnet är ett halvt år'

[OwainLlyfr]

Or "Barnet är ett halvår"...

[FLchick]

"And the question is: How long does it take to complete the the first two sections of the Swedish tree?"

[jerobarraco]

Uh, this phrase is SO useful if you work on IT.

[volmortanto]

Would half of a year also work?

[Zmrzlina]

No, it's not idiomatic.

[volmortanto]

Tack så mycket.

[cdch10]

What about: "It takes a semester"?

[Arnauti]

a semester is usually en termin in Swedish.

[cdch10]

Like in school? Or any given period of six months? By the way thanks for answering so fast! I really appreciate it

[Arnauti]

Like in school or other similar things.

[RabbieY]

the swedish word semester translate to vacation or holiday

[pablopublico]

I believe that Swedish halvår can translate as English half-year or semester, the latter being not only the half of a school year, but also any period of six months.

[ALarke]

Where do you live that semester means 6 months? I don't believe I've ever heard it used that way? (I've lived in Florida, Tennessee, and Wisconsin in the US) Although I see other comments with the same question so it can't be too uncommon.

[hoyunmyoun]

Just as "halvår" means "half a year"
My question is that,,

1. Can I add other nouns behind hal to make a compound noun? (Grammatically)
2. Is "halvar" countable? (CUZ "ett-" accompanied? ) then What's the plural version of this word?

[MartinKarlberg]

1. You can't add halv- to all nouns, but to a few words it is possible! When you speak to a Swede you could try and see if they understand ;) For example circle (cirkel) and moon (måne) are possible words; "halvcirkel" and "halvmåne", respectively.
2. Yes, it's countable. But in Sweden we don't count halvår! In plural it would be "halvåren" as "the years" would be "åren".

[hoyunmyoun]

Guess I have to try my luck in Sweden!----> to figure out which is possible and not :)
Thank you so much!!

[MattBush2]

half of a year is what any English grammar teacher would prescribe, so should be an accepted answer.

[Noctivigant]

Is the indefinite article always required before 'halvår'?
Also could you say 'det tar halvåret' to mean 'it takes half of the year'?

[MartinKarlberg]

Well, you could say both 'Det tar ett halvår' and 'Det tar halva året' but not 'Det tar halvåret' (actually you can say that when talking, but it would not be absolutely correct)

[alexSwe1]

I wrote "it takes a semester" and is wrong,...why?

[FreeAlarmBells]

"It is taking half a year"

[fatihsefil]

what is wrong about "it takes a half of a year"

[GeorgeValentin]

Hi, can it take also 1/2 as half?

[mimi950860]

Instead of "ett halvår", can I say "ett halvt år"? Is it incorrect, or does it sound unnatural or unusual?

[CaliforniaNorma]

VERY COOL!!! This sentence, I closed my eyes and understood "half year!" Sounds SO close to English. Happy happy!!!

[OwainLlyfr]

There are plenty of similarities between English and Swedish, especially when the English words aren't of Latin/French origin. The Old English version of year was "gear" (possibly pronounced /ɪea:r/ or /ɪeɑ:r/) and the Old Norse version was "jãra" (possibly pronounced /ɪea:ra/, /ɪa:ra/, /ɪeɑ:ra/ or /ɪɑ:ra/), so indeed these versions were very close. The Old Norse version eventually lost its initial /ɪ/ and became "ar", "aar" or "ār" (/ɑ:r/) in ancient Swedish (1250), which transformed into "år" in Old Swedish (1500).