Swedish word of the day: typ
Are you looking for that great filler word to smooth out your sentences to make you sound more fluent in Swedish? We've got you covered with the word typ.
Typ literally means type (a type of something), but is also used as a preposition to say almost, sort of, and around. It can be compared to the way Brits add "-ish" to a word to convey an estimation (soon-ish, eleven-ish).
Its most popular application in the Swedish language today, however, is as a filler word, used much the same way many Americans use the word "like" to pad out their sentences (tåget var typ jättejättesent – the train was, like, really really late).
Although the word itself has been around for a long time, its use as a kind preposition is believed to have begun somewhere in the early 1960s, when Swedish language professor Sölve Ohlander first noted the peculiar new use of the word.
Since then, it has taken Sweden by storm, and many Swedes pepper their phrases with the word typ.
What's perhaps one of the most interesting things when it comes to the word is that it has evolved in much the same way that the word tipo has developed in both Spanish and Italian in the past few decades. It's not impossible that the Swedes adopted and imported its new use after holidaying by the Mediterranean…
Examples
What kind of wine do you like?
Vad för typ av vin gillar du?
Shall we meet at eleven-ish?
Ska vi ses vid typ 11?
She said she'd arrive, like, soon.
Hon sa att hon kommer typ snart.
Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading our new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.
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Typ literally means type (a type of something), but is also used as a preposition to say almost, sort of, and around. It can be compared to the way Brits add "-ish" to a word to convey an estimation (soon-ish, eleven-ish).
Its most popular application in the Swedish language today, however, is as a filler word, used much the same way many Americans use the word "like" to pad out their sentences (tåget var typ jättejättesent – the train was, like, really really late).
Although the word itself has been around for a long time, its use as a kind preposition is believed to have begun somewhere in the early 1960s, when Swedish language professor Sölve Ohlander first noted the peculiar new use of the word.
Since then, it has taken Sweden by storm, and many Swedes pepper their phrases with the word typ.
What's perhaps one of the most interesting things when it comes to the word is that it has evolved in much the same way that the word tipo has developed in both Spanish and Italian in the past few decades. It's not impossible that the Swedes adopted and imported its new use after holidaying by the Mediterranean…
Examples
What kind of wine do you like?
Vad för typ av vin gillar du?
Shall we meet at eleven-ish?
Ska vi ses vid typ 11?
She said she'd arrive, like, soon.
Hon sa att hon kommer typ snart.
Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading our new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.
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