Swedish has several ways to say that someone is in a bad mood. You can be a little irriterad because someone is chewing too loudly. Sur because the coffee has run out. Arg because the train has been cancelled. And förbannad when the train has been cancelled, the coffee has run out and someone is still chewing too loudly. The words are related, but they do not feel the same. They sit at different points on the mood scale, from a slight crease between the eyebrows to the

In Swedish, small verbs can do big things. Two of the most useful, and sometimes most confusing, are vara and bli. They may look harmless enough, but they have very different jobs. Think of it like this: Vara is about a state or situation. Bli is about a change. Jag är trött. (I am tired.) Jag blir trött. (I get tired / I become tired.)