"På eftermiddagen"

Translation: In the afternoon

[JeersMPGA]

In a previous one, it was 'om en dag' and in this one it is 'på eftermiddagen'. How do I know whether to use på or om for talking about 'in' a particular time?

[Arnauti]

om with time means 'after' that amount of time. So Jag gör det om en vecka means 'I will do it in a week', as in 'after' a week, not 'for' a week.

[JeersMPGA]

Ah, I see. Thanks!

[lagolas2010]

Can we than say På en dag as well as Om en dag?

[devalanteriel]

That means something takes a day. Jag målar väggen på en dag = It takes me one day to paint the wall.

[Kyara93]

is it me or is the sound of pronunciation of the word 'på' different then in other sentences? is there a reason for that perhaps?

[baconmater]

The vowel sounds are probably contracted.

So like: poeeeeeftermiddagen; exaggerated, but the o sound is really short.

[benurix]

I heard "pasta middagen" :P

[ViolentRed]

isnt it pronounced efermiddan?

[Zmrzlina]

Oftentimes in spoken Swedish it's eftermiddan, yes.

[TheAnnexe]

How relates "på" to "i"? Both mean "in", but i still cannot distinguish properly when to use which. They seam really close:
på eftermiddagen - in the afternoon;
i juni - in june

[Zmrzlina]

Their use will vary between different usages of time. It's a bit messy, but important to learn.

[Nassia-]

So.. can you explain? Or is there a link maybe?
Cause i had the same question now, although at other cases they had been clear for me..until now..

[Dylan600886]

I'm not sure if this is correct, but I seem to --maybe!-- have sorted out using på: if I can use "during" instead of "in", or at least the concept of during ("in" being as damnably versatile a word in English as på seems to be in Swedish), I can use på.

In the afternoon = during the afternoon = på eftermiddagen
I swim on mondays = I swim during mondays = Jag simmar på måndagar

"I" seems to be much more definite:
this afternoon = i eftermiddagen
today = i dag
the morrow (yes, I know it's archaic) = i morgon

Maybe?

Good crickey, I can't seem to get a grasp on it otherwise and I'm at my wit's end. I might as well toss i, om, på, and half a dozen other words into a sack and choose one at random. Even if I have pinned down "på" and "i," even a little bit, "om," "av," and "till" are still mysteries utterly beyond my ken.

Ye gods, I hope my intuition spins up soon and I begin to understand these slippery little beggars.

[devalanteriel]

This is largely correct. :)

Two minor things:

1. It's i eftermiddag rather than i eftermiddagen
2. I'd translate i morgon literally as "to-morrow", since that is exactly what it means and is closer grammatically to its English cognate

Prepositions are easily the trickiest part of achieving fluency in any language, so don't get discouraged. We all struggle with them in one way or another.

[Dylan600886]

Thank you --and about i eftermiddag... Oops. Clearly I have a ways to go.

In English (perhaps only American-English?), an alternate yet archaic phrase (but still somewhat common in the region where I grew up) is "the morrow," meaning "tomorrow." "I'll see you on the morrow" = "I'll see you tomorrow." In that phrase, the definite-ness of "the morrow" seems to fit with using "i". Perhaps? Maybe?

I'll stick with it.

[devalanteriel]

If it helps your learning, by all means please do!

[skrats]

Could this also translate to "this afternoon"?

[Arnauti]

this afternoon is 'i eftermiddag'.

[EliAalderi]

I was confused by this too. It seems like "this afternoon" should work, but maybe I'm missing something.

[_Mew_]

Strangely, "eftermiddagen" does not usually take place "efter middagen", but it does "efter lunchen".

[kpolh]

why does "i" work instead of " på ". A person below said "use will vary between different usages of time" but I still don't understand what that means in this context.

[devalanteriel]

i doesn't work here, though.