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"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.
Sidenote:
Fun Contributor Fact:
I went to the same elementary school as did once Greta Garbo. :p
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.
Movie trivia: Garbo actually sprinkled grass seed on herself and said "I vant to be a lawn".
ensam sounds like the German "einsam", like feeling lonely. so does it more resemble "einsam" or "alone", like being on one's own?
It can be alone or lonely, but for lonely you normally use känna sig (feel): Hon känner sig ensam.
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".
So anyone can explain to me when i can say ''vill ha'' and when to say ''vill vara''.
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
