- In this video, we're going to be talking
about the difference between "åka" and "gå",
two verbs which mean similar things.
Let's begin.
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Hello and welcome to Coffee Break Swedish. I'm Mark.
- And I'm Lovisa.
- And as I said, in this video,
we're going to be answering a question
from our listener, Kristina.
Now, Kristina got in touch
and Kristina wanted to know the difference
between these two verbs, "att åka" and "att gå".
Two similar verbs, but they mean something
a little bit different. Lovisa would you agree?
- Yeah, they are very similar
but we use them in slightly different ways.
And, depending on which one we use,
we can change the meaning of what we're saying
just a tiny bit.
- Okay. So let's look at an example where we could use both
but that one sentence would mean two different things
depending on which verb we chose.
- Exactly. So if we take the sentence
"jag åker till Sverige", for example.
- Okay "jag åker...
till Sverige". Okay. So what does that mean?
- This means that "I'm going to Sweden"
or "I'm traveling to Sweden", in general.
We don't necessarily say how we're getting there,
we're just saying that we're going to end up there.
- Okay. So, "åker" there means "to go".
Now, there is another verb in Swedish that looks like...
and you would think it means "to go" and it's "går"
but what would it mean if we said,
"jag går till Sverige"?
- If we say "jag går till Sverige",
that means that we're actually walking there.
So, if we're going from far away
we may want to use "åka" because if we're going to "gå"
that might be a little too far.
- Yeah a little too far unless you're just crossing
the border from Norway into Sweden or something like that.
Yeah. Okay.
So let's look at "åker" and come up with some other examples
of "åker" and then we'll look at "går" as well
and look at the different ways
in which we're going to use these two verbs.
- Yeah. Sounds good!
So we can use the word "åker", for example.
"Sven åker tåg till Umeå".
- Okay. So "Sven åker tåg".
So "he is travelling by train",
"till Umeå".
Exactly. That's a great sentence for practising the
"å" sound. Let's hear that again!
- "Sven åker tåg till Umeå".
Okay. Another sentence.
- We can also talk about Lotte, and she...
"Lotte åker skidor imorgon".
- Oh right, more pronunciation practice here,
I'm loving this. "Lotte åker skidor...
So "she is going by ski",
"she's going skiing tomorrow".
- Exactly.
- Okay. Excellent.
- And then we can just more in general say
"Vi åker till farmor".
- Okay. So that's more just translating it like "to go".
So we are going to Gran's.
"Vi åker till farmor".
- Exactly.
- Excellent.
Okay. So all of those, in each situation there,
we're translating it slightly differently.
So the first one "Sven åker tag",
he's going by train, and the second one "Lotte åker skidor",
so "she is going skiing".
And then, in the third one, we've got "vi åker till farmor"
"we are just going to Gran's".
Let's look at some examples then with "går".
- Yeah. So as we said
"går" is more like when you're actually walking somewhere.
So for example, "Johann går hem".
- Okay, so "Johann går...
- "hem".
- ..."hem", sorry.
- (laughing) You're slipping into your Norwegian!
- "Johann går hem", so Johann is going home.
Now, that's what it looks like,
but that's not what it really means.
What is he doing?
- He's walking home.
- He is walking home.
So that's him going on foot. Okay.
So "Johann går hem".
- "Hem"!
- Okay. What about another example?
"Alice går till affären".
Okay, "Alice går till affären".
- Yeah.
- So she is not going to the shop.
She is walking to the shop.
- Exactly. A different situation where we still use "går"
but it doesn't necessarily mean
that we're walking somewhere.
- Okay.
- So for example "barnen går i skolan".
Yeah this actually means that the children are...
they're in in school, like they're students.
- They're students, okay.
Okay. So they go to school,
not "they go to school every day"
but they go to school, that's what they do.
"barnen går i skolan".
What if we said "barnen går till skolan"?
What would that mean?
- Then we're actually back
to the whole "walking" aspect of the word.
So that means that that the children are walking to school.
- Perfect. Okay.
So we have, then, two words,
both of which have similar meanings, but slightly
different. "Åker" is a verb that's used
for going places, particularly
with transport or indeed going skiing,
but then "går" has that more specific meaning
of walking somewhere. So "Johann går hem" and
"barnen går i skolan". That's the general situation of
that they attend school, that kind of idea.
- Yeah. Well done, that's exactly right.
- Perfect. Okay.
Well, hopefully Kristina, that has helped you to
understand the difference between "åka" and "gå",
and if you have a question like Kristina, then you can
get in touch. Simply go to coffeebreakquestions.com
where you'll be able to send us your question.
And hopefully we'll be able to include
that in a future episode of our show.
And if you've enjoyed this video
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- And of course, please comment your example sentences
of different ways to use "går" or "åker"
in the comments below.
- And we're looking forward to seeing them!
Lovisa, thanks very much!
Thank you very much.
And bye bye!
Bye!
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