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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