"Det tar bara en minut."
Translation:It only takes a minute.
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Is there a difference in Swedish between "it takes only a minute" and "it only takes a minute" ? There is a very subtle difference in meaning; the emphasis on the taking or the minute.
In Swedish, you could say "det tar bara en minut" or possibly "det tar en minut bara". The latter is very rare though, and not accepted here. You'd have to work with stressing certain words instead.
They are cognates:
"From Old Swedish bara, from Old Norse bara (“barely, only”), from barr, from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare”)."
"From Middle English bare, bar, from Old English bær (“bare, naked, open”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare, naked”)."
So what does "bara" mean when attached to bra? As in "hur mår du?" "Bara bra, tack!"
Is it literally "only good" as to say " definitely good", i.e. "very good" ? Am I right?
Literally it means 'only good', but it doesn't necessarily mean 'very good', I guess it's more like it points to the absence of anything bad. (admittedly a very small difference)
I think just fine is a perfect translation.
Like, in english, "Just a minute" is a short while longer than "one moment" (although not by much), while "just a second" is synonymous to "just a minute". Does it work the same way in Swedish?
Can "bara" be used about time? As in "Jag har bara ätit frykost" for "I just ate breakfast"?
No, it’s only used in the sense of only, otherwise it’s ”just” or ”precis” or ”nyss”.
I learned bara from the song Bara fa vär mig själv by Laleh, which I enjoy a lot. I wish I remembered who to give credit.
That's a possible interpretation. You can't be sure since the Swedish present tense covers more. I'll add it as an accepted answer. – If you want to say this unambiguously, it would be Det kommer bara (att) ta en minut.
I feel like for english swedish learners, understanding it as "it takes just a minute" is more helpful than "it takes only a minute"