What's the deal with "på" & "i" (CONFUSING!)

[@sayitinswedish]

Don't mind the graphics, when I say "i magen" I also mean "i magen" and not "på magen" 🙈

[@els1f]

Great explanations! Every time I think I get a hang of this whole thing a på is supposed to be a vid or something 😄 tack så mycket ✌️

[@sayitinswedish]

Not a very scientific explanation, but I tried to convey my feeling for it.

[@lorlornana8891]

På seems to operate in instances when we might use the formal English “attend”: i.e. you can attend school, attend work, attend the cinema, attend a concert etc. It suggests a gathering of people for a purpose? The institution is the people - not the building...

[@sayitinswedish]

Exactly, it's the abstract entity that houses inside the building.

[@UndineAlmaniDE]

I'm German but I don't find på and i counterintuitive... Usually the one that sounds better is also the right one. I've stopped learning by vocabulary a long time ago. Swedish is my fifth language and I only ever learn whole sentences... It helps a lot with prepositions and past tense and stuff like that...

[@sayitinswedish]

Yes, learning expressions directly is super helpful.

[@rubenfalch3021]

Je nach Region sagt man übrigens auch "ich gehe auf den Zug nach München oder "ich bin auf dem Bus nach Mannheim". Wichtig: es muss dann eine Ergänzung angefügt werden mit bspw. dem Zielort der Linie oder deiner Fahrt. Ansonsten denkt der Deutsche "auf dem Dach des Busses". Bei Zügen funktioniert "Auf" auch nur mit einem echten Zug, mit dem man Strecken größer 20-30 Kilometer fahren kann. Man kann also nicht sagen: ich gehe auf die Straßenbahn oder ich bin auf der U-Bahn. Es sei denn man ist in der Schweiz. "ich bin auf der Tram nach Basel"

[@bionikc]

You're SUCH a big help. Thank you for putting out this content. You're amazing!

[@sayitinswedish]

You're making me blush ;)

[@turozuka]

Thank you for this informative video! Prepositions can be very confusing to us Finns since we don't have them in our language :D

[@sayitinswedish]

Well,you do have your cases with endings, it's virually the same thing (= but often, all languages just use different prepositions and/or cases for the same things. So yeah, confusing but fun!

[@HerbertLandei]

I think I get this right most of the time, but I really struggle with "på" and "i" for temporal stuff.

[@sayitinswedish]

Check out my beginner lesson #4 for more on that! www.sayitinswedish.com/lesson/beg004

[@janetrowland8575]

This was very helpful!!! Thank you so much!!

[@Sapemies58]

How does På relate to the weird exception that you should use "Vid" when talking about being/studying in university?

[@jacquelinegeiger1740]

Great stuff! But i'm still not quite sure if you can say på soffan or is it alway i soffan, as in: min katt sovar i soffan.🤔

[@sayitinswedish]

I didn't even think of this example! You can say both, since the couch is enclose by armrests!

[@Elflamencojuan]

really helpful explanation. Jag älskar det här språk!

[@sayitinswedish]

I'm glad I could be of help!

[@pad9x]

thank you for this. very clear explanation!

[@aslisa6631]

Great explanation! Tack så mycket!

[@andromeda_dust]

If you do another video could you explain på gång? I see it means underway but any other back ground is appreciated. I also read it can be shorted to på g in slang, how would that be pronounced? Tack tack!

[@sayitinswedish]

"på gång" literally means "on/at walk" and means that someone is underway but also hyped/ready for something. "på G" would be pronounced, like we pronounce the single letter G. It's a bit difficult to convey in writing though, check out the pronunciation lesson on sayitinswedish.com for more on that: www.sayitinswedish.com/lesson/pro008/

[@andromeda_dust]

@@sayitinswedish fantastiskt tack för svaret. Huh I didn't know that about gång, I had only seen it as the time translation, like "en gång".

[@sayitinswedish]

@@andromeda_dust "gång" means occasion/time yes, but also has to do with gå (to walk). Thus "gång" means pathway and walk (the manner how someone walks)

[@andromeda_dust]

@@sayitinswedish ah! That makes sense why I was confused. Tack igen!

[@Mycenaea]

Good job, Matt :D

[@irianscott1062]

the subject is partaking of 'being' on the bus if the bus and subject are seen in a shared context of 'being' involved?

[@sayitinswedish]

Maybe?

[@Xanzalur]

At least in northern Germany one is usually "auf einem Konzert", not "in". So at least for concerts, på makes sense for me :D

[@sayitinswedish]

Both "auf" and "in" are used but it seems like people aren't 100% agreeing on which one is used when.

[@sayitinswedish]

​@sTobi123 It's not southern German. In school I learned "ins Konsert gehen" and since living in Germany I have heard both "in" and "auf" being used. If you google it, people are arguing if it's about classical concerts vs. rock concerts and/or if it's outside or inside.

[@Logiwonk]

I heard another explanation of på that made a lot of sense - when talking about "på bio" you in a place and you are assumed to be doing the characteristic activity associated with that place is that correct? So if someone said "i bio" it would sound weird, like you were there but just in the building not to watch a movie, is that accurate?

[@sayitinswedish]

Exactly, one is more abstract than the other.

[@peggyharris2158]

Even though I might still make the mistake between på and i you still helped me alot. I think I will make a whole lot less mistakes with them. 😁

[@sayitinswedish]

Nice!

[@daphnie816]

No. I'm definitively "on" the bus and "on" the train, not "at" or "in". This is why på is my least favorite Swedish preposition. It translates to at, in, and on, and it's impossible to know which one to use. I said something about someone not laughing at me once and I said "på mig", and was immediately laughed at because I apparently said laugh "on" me. On the other hand, på is also my favorite preposition because I love å .

[@sayitinswedish]

I never said that you were "at" or "in" the bus or train in English. I said it has the same mentality here, like in Swedish.

[@krewetkashrimp]

In polish "i" means "and" (Swedish "och") When I'm learning Swedish I still have a problem with "i" 'cause I still see polish "and", not "in".

[@anadoesthings]

Same here, I'm Croatian and we also say "i" for "och" and it took me some time to get used to it

[@ralffleitmann9617]

hier in Tyskland gibt es sogar 2 verschiedene ausdrucksweisen wenn man ein konzert besucht...wenn ich sage "ich gehe auf ein konzert" ist eher eins gemeint, wie zum beispiel von Benny....wenn ich sage "ich gehe in ein konzert", ist eher ein klassisches konzert gemeint

[@sayitinswedish]

Ja, es ist richtig, dass es mehrere Ausdrucksweise gibt und niemand scheint sich aber einig wann man was verwendet.

[@lionyx98]

Tusen tack 👍

[@TheSentientCloud]

So would I say "i IKEA" or "på IKEA" because you can refer to IKEA as both the company that owns the building and the building itself?

[@sayitinswedish]

I'd probably say "i IKEA-huset" if I'm that specifik that I need "i".

[@Hejjhej]

No you say På IKEA. Jag är på IKEA för att köpa en stol.

[@marioyordanov20]

Nice video?Can you explain how to use väl & ju in Swedish cuz they are so confusing

[@sayitinswedish]

There is a video on that already, made it not too long ago.

[@laviii97]

Also the ”att” thing, when you put and how this work? Idk if you already have a video about this if not will be nice to make one 😊

[@sayitinswedish]

Could you elaborate on that "att" thing?

[@laviii97]

Say It In Swedish Det är roligt att läsa. Att läsa är roligt. Han säger att det är kallt ute. Därför att... Means something different in all this sentences...and idk when i need to use it or not...i hope you can understand me 😁

[@TheSouthernYankee]

@@laviii97 I get confused on when to use just därför and when to add att, like därför att.

[@luxinfinite]

Thank you so much!

[@sayitinswedish]

Thank you for watching!

[@balkanbalkan6986]

when in doubt, på

[@richardc4215]

So "the castle"/"slottet", as you said, would use "till". Jag går till slottet. This is because the castle is an actual building? Correct me if I'm wrong, please. So why wouldn't it be "Jag går till bion"? Isn't the movie theatre an actual building?

[@sayitinswedish]

This video as nothing to do with "till" so don't confuse that. You can use "till" in both cases.

[@kl1541]

Hej joakim! I want to tell you something😅, i went to a bank in östermalm in stockholm and i said this to the bank telller "hej,jag vill sätta in ___ kronor tack" but then she replied to me in english so its a bit awkward for me😅 so i try to talk to her in swedish but she might noticed that i'm not a native speaker so she keep replying to me in english😂😂,i thought i dont mispronounce any words there and why most of the swedes i met they tend to reply me in english everytime i try to speak to em in swedish?😅

[@sayitinswedish]

I've heard this from people and I can't believe it myself. Personally I've never had this mindset, so I don't know what it comes from. If someone speaks to me in Swedish, I reply in Swedish and that person just has to tell me if they don't understand.

[@kl1541]

I know right?😅,but they're nice though i love this city and this country,been here for 5 days and tomorrow i'll head back to Indonesia,thanks for your tips joakim!❤

[@Mycenaea]

Jag säger både 'i förskolan' och 'på förskolan' till exempel om jag pratar om när jag var liten. "I förskolan hade vi sovstund." "På min förskola hade vi sovstund."

[@sayitinswedish]

Precis, i vissa fall, som detta, är det inte helt skrivet i sten vad man ska använda. Det hör lite till min "tumregel" om hur mycket en byggnad definieras av vad som är i den.

[@spreadpeaceoye4116]

A big confusion solved tack så mycket from india

[@sayitinswedish]

Hey, cool! Where in India are you from?

[@spreadpeaceoye4116]

@@sayitinswedish from central india(madhya pradesh)

[@heapsmadgirl]

Weh uh oh oh uuuuh ☺️

[@werdlederdle]

Weh uh oh oh uuuuh

[@thomasbausewein1746]

Man sagt im Deutschen oft "auf ein Konzert" gehen :)

[@sayitinswedish]

Jawohl

[@lordwilfrandosy6791]

I am two years too late but ... weh uh oh oh uuuuh! 😁

[@kimihon2011]

weh uh oh uuuuh!!!!

[@Ambar42]

Germans actually say "auf dem Konzert" (på) because it's an event, not a building.^^

[@sayitinswedish]

Stimmt.

[@PVT_White]

Wusste nicht dass du deutsch kannst! Grüße aus Österreich! Oder wie wir so schön sagen "Griaß di!" 😄✌

[@sayitinswedish]

Sers!

[@english4all518]

It's really applausable way of teaching Swedish prepositions

[@svy5394]

Could you say like på Starbucks?

[@sayitinswedish]

Yes, På Starbucks.

[@bladecup]

Come on poor means poor...

[@sayitinswedish]

Wut?

[@bladecup]

@@sayitinswedish You said poor right>?