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78. Polite Phrases (That Aren’t Stiff)

August 30, 2026 · 22 min

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Idag ska vi prata om artighet. Today, we are going to talk about politeness! How do you ask for something politely? How do you say please? What is the difference between ursäkta and förlåt? And how polite do you actually need to be?

‘Cause I have noticed something among people who learn Swedish: you are often way too polite. Or… perhaps polite is the wrong word to use. You’re just very very formal. And I think that’s SFI’s and DuoLingo’s fault. I think they teach very formal language, which makes you sound kinda weird in everyday life here in Sweden.

If you want to start speaking Swedish, join us on Discord by joining to the Speak Swedish with Katrin on Patreon. This is the perfect setting to start producing Swedish sentences out loud!

Your Learn Swedish (and Slow Swedish) subscription is included.

Join: https://www.patreon.com/c/slowswedish/membership

Browse all episodes here: https://slowswedish.com/

Happy learning! 💛

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