- Forum >
- Topic: Swedish >
- "Jag vill ha en halsduk."
33 Comments
Literally, "I want to have" ... "ha" being the infinitive form of "har" of course. Which brings about the next tricky part of Swedish: Infinitives. Some verbs require the use of "att" (corresponding to English "to") and others (like vill) do not. Ex: Jag älskar att läsa böken (I love to read the book) ... but Jag vill läsa böken (I want to read the book) ... no "att" ... and you just have to learn which ones don't use "att".
Tack! And how do I say it in a more polite way? "Want" is too rude in English, isn't it? For instance, I can't say "I want one more sandwich", I should say "I would like one more sandwich, please". I heard that Swedes don't use "please" as often as, say, Americans. But how do I say "I would like"? Tack så mycket!
In Swedish you can also use the conditional to make it more polite:
- Jag vill ha en smörgås. (I want a sandwich)
- Jag skulle vilja ha en smörgås, tack. (I would like a sandwich, please.)
The conditional like this is very common when asking, but it’s true that the Swedish tack is not used as much as the English please. You often see that on bilingual signs that the Swedish version says something like ”Don’t touch the floor” and the English says ”Please refrain from touching the floor” or similar.
Who know Swedish and wants to clarify some things for me ? :) On this site I found that there are multiple forms for a verb. https://sv.wiktionary.org/wiki/komma There is the infinitiv; understood. Then there's the present; understood. Then the Preterium; I didn't understand it. Is it like "I was coming home when he heard that noise" or is it like "I CAME home too early that day." ? There's the Supinum too. What's that ?? And also, can you explain me what's with "ska / skola / skulle", please ? I searched and found out that it means "shall" or "will" but I'm not sure about that. Thanks a lot ;).
My limited understanding tells me that the Supine tense in swedish is a form used where you would use the past and present perfect tense in English. "Jag ha kommit" - "I have come" ... "Jag hade kommit" - "I had come"
Preterium: You are correct, it is past tense.
Ska is "shall", and is one of many hjälpverb that Swedish uses to tell future tense, much like in English. "skulle" is a conditional tense ... "jag skulle vilja ha en öl" ... I would like a beer. "skola" is an infinitive form of the above, to the best of my understanding.
Skulle has many uses ...
"jag skulle äta, om..." - "I would eat, if ..." "jag skulle just äta när..." - "I was just going to eat when ..." "jag skulle ha ätit färdigt innan...." - "I should have finished eating before ..."
You could also use "ska" for "will", though Swedish has another flavor of future tense, "Kommer att" followed by the infinitive. Ex: "Jag kommer att gå till Sverige" - "I will go to Sweden" is one possible use.
1488
The supine is just the kommit form – you use it with har and hade to form perfect and pluperfect, just like you use the participle + 'have' or 'had' in English.
The infinitive form skola is never used today.
Jag kommer att gå till Sverige would mean I am going to walk to Sweden; gå does not work like go in sentences like that.
The root words are the same, but "vill ha" in this sense is always used in the context for "wanting" something. To say "I will have" in Swedish, it's "Jag kommer att ha", as far as I know. Some people also use the conditional tense of "vill ha" ... "Jag skulle vilja ha en öl" ... in English, "I would like a beer".
1488
Yes, and if you say I'll have a beer at the bar in English, that would be Jag tar en öl in Swedish. You can order things that way at bars and in shops. Jag tar den här, tack 'I'll have this one, please'.
I could just be making up tricks to make things easy in my mind, but "vill," like the German "will," means want. So, in "vill ha" You're literally saying you "want to have" something.
Now that brings me to wonder, when completing a verb after "vill," is the "ha" no longer necessary?
Example: Jag vill hoppar.
Or would you still use "ha" even though there's no physical object to "have?"
1488
Exactly, vill ha when you want a noun, and just vill when you want to do something. (It would be Jag vill hoppa, we use the infinitive here.)
Some more info on this construction here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5892480