"Hon vill vara ensam."

Translation: She wants to be alone.

[PaulGratrex]

Vem är hon? Greta Garbo?!

[WildSage]

"I never said, 'I want to be alone'. I only said, 'I want to be left alone'. There is all the difference." - Greta Garbo

It's a interesting quote for people trying to understand the nuances of different languages.

[Zmrzlina]

Sidenote:

Fun Contributor Fact:
I went to the same elementary school as did once Greta Garbo. :p

[HelenCarlsson]

Katarina Södra? Did they have her portrait on the wall?

[Zmrzlina]

Yes, Katarina Södra. As far as I can recall, there were no portrait of her there in the 90s when I was a kid. On the other hand, I was a child so I wouldn't have noticed or cared if there was.

[spyglass398]

Movie trivia: Garbo actually sprinkled grass seed on herself and said "I vant to be a lawn".

[devalanteriel]

I'm pretty sure that's just a joke... :p

[spyglass398]

:-)

[bianca.fox]

ensam sounds like the German "einsam", like feeling lonely. so does it more resemble "einsam" or "alone", like being on one's own?

[HelenCarlsson]

It can be alone or lonely, but for lonely you normally use känna sig (feel): Hon känner sig ensam.

[Karen69472]

thanks and a lingot for the explanation!

[pablopublico]

First I thought that "ensam" was related with "samman", "together". But researching a little I get to know that "-sam" it's a cognate of the English suffix "-some", so, a literal translation of "ensam" would be "onesome", nice and self-explanatory way of saying "alone".

[Amrzeido]

So anyone can explain to me when i can say ''vill ha'' and when to say ''vill vara''.

[HelenCarlsson]

want + noun = vill ha/vill få: I want sugar in the coffee = Jag vill ha socker i kaffet
want + verb = vill: I want to play football = Jag vill spela fotboll
want to be = vill vara: I want to be alone = Jag vill vara ensam