Swedish has plenty of ways to talk about plans. We plan dinners, meetings, trips, workouts, phone calls and small, ambitious projects that begin with the words “det vore kul att” (“it would be nice to…”). Then life happens. Someone gets ill. The train is delayed. It starts raining sideways. Nobody books a table. Everyone is tired. One person writes “vi hörs sen” (“speak later”), and suddenly three months have gone by. That is when Swedish particle verbs come to the r

Feelings can be powerful things. They can rush in, whisper quietly, or settle over the whole day like a blanket. But in Swedish, they often come with something very small: a preposition. Man är kär i någon. (You are in love with someone.) Man är rädd för något. (You are afraid of something.) Man är trött på något. (You are tired of / fed up with something.) Small words, big feelings. Prepositions show where the feeling is directed. Is it warm? Irritated? Worried?