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Beginner S1 #1
Reserving a Swedish Hotel Room
CONTENTS
2 Swedish
2 English
3 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
5 Grammar
6 Cultural Insight
# 1
COPYRIGHT © 2012 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
SWEDISH
2. Lisa: Hej. Jag heter Lisa Smith och jag vill boka ett rum.
ENGLISH
5. Hotel receptionist: It costs 900 crowns. Would you like to book it?
CONT'D OVER
VOCABULARY
SAMPLE SENTENCES
Jag kommer att boka ett bord på Det finns ett rum kvar.
restaurang Blåsippan.
"There is one room left."
"I will reserve a table at restaurant
Blåsippan."
"What is your favorite color?" "The girl came towards the video camera."
När kommer du ikväll? Det tog lång tid att checka in.
"When are you coming tonight?" "It took a long time to check in."
Jag skulle vilja resa till Italien. Det får mig att vilja hoppa av glädje.
"I would like to travel to Italy." "It makes me want to jump for joy."
från ("from)"
Från is a preposition that we used in this lesson's dialogue together with a specific time
reference to refer to something that will happen from a certain point in time. In this case, Lisa
We commonly use this verb in Swedish when we want to communicate that we have booked
a hotel room or a table at a restaurant. We can also use it when we are talking about tickets
for different events, such as plays, cinemas, or concerts. Another verb that we can use as a
synonym for the verb "book" is the verb att reservera ("to reserve").
GRAMMAR
The Focus of This Lesson Is the Usage of the Modal Verb Vill and Verbs in the Present
Tense.
...jag vill boka ett rum.
"...I want to book a room."
Since the overall focus of this lesson is to learn how to make a hotel reservation in Swedish,
the key phrase that has been selected is the one above where we express a wish, in this case
the wish to book a room. Forming these kinds of sentences might seem difficult at a first
glance, but as you will find, the structure of these sentences is quite straightforward.
Let us first look at the verbs in the above sentence. There are two verbs, att vilja (to want) and
att boka ("to book"), that appear in the sentence. The first verb is a modal verb, and here it is
put in in its present tense form, vill ("want"). It might be good to know that vill does not change
in its present tense: it stays the same for all persons. It is followed by the verb att boka ("to
book"), which is here put in its infinitive form but without its preposition "to." This sentence
structure is not only useful when you want to make a hotel reservation but also for all other
situations when you want to express a desire to do something. Let us look at some examples
of sentences that use this structure.
For Example:
In this lesson's dialogue, there are also some other verbs present, namely är, heter, kommer,
and kostar. There are certain general rules for how to form present tense verbs in Swedish,
and we will come back to them at a later stage, but for now, we will only focus on the
situations when we use verbs in their present tense. We can divide the situations that verbs in
their present tense describe into three categories. Most commonly, present tense is explained
as a tense that describes something that is or are happening right now. Present tense can,
however, also describe something that usually happens but also something that will happen
in the future.
CULTURAL INSIGHT
In this lesson, we have learned how to make a hotel reservation. Here, we made the
reservation over the phone, but if you find it easier, you can also make a hotel reservation
over the Internet. However, actually calling the hotel yourself is a great way of practicing your
Swedish, so next time why don't you give it a try? Of course, there are other benefits to calling
the hotel yourself: for example, this will allow you to ask more detailed questions about check-
in and checkout times and about what is included in the price.
Breakfast is, for the most part, included in the price when booking a hotel room in Sweden.
What is actually served naturally varies, but most hotels in Sweden serve a continental-style
breakfast, which might be a great opportunity to try some Swedish delicacies.