Grammar Lesson 15:

Writing words in one or two parts (särskrivning)

It is common even among Swedes to sometimes write words apart that should be written as one word, like ”gammal modig” (old-fashioned), which is correctly written as ”gammalmodig”. Often it is a source of amusement to find these ”särskrivningar”, as they change the meaning quite drastically.

Other examples:

Wrong: kort fel (short error), skum tomte (shady santa claus), herr cykel (mister bike), super gott (drinks good), lätt packad (slightly drunk)

Right: kortfel (card error), skumtomte (marshmallow shaped like santa claus), herrcykel (men’s bike), supergott (super delicious), lättpackad (packed lightly)



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