#time expressions

Some useful words to have in your ordförråd (vocabulary) are the one we use to talk about the days.

Vad är det för dag i dag? Lördag = What day is it today? Saturday

Vad är det för dag i morgon? Söndag = What day is it tomorrow? Sunday

Vad var det för dag i går? Fredag = What day it was yesterday? Friday

Many of you will probably see the 1 word variant of this like “igår” and “idag” as well. Those are not wrong, those are completely okay, modern versions of them.

English - Polish

Basic time expressions: (wyrażenia czasowe)

Today - Dzisiaj

Now - Teraz

Tomorrow - Jutro

Yesterday - Wczoraj

Hour - Godzina

Day - Dzień

Week - Tydzień

Month - Miesiąc

Year - Rok

Last week/month/year - W zeszłym tygodniu/miesiącu/roku

Next week/month/year - W przyszłym tygodniu/miesiącu/roku

Week/month/year ago - tydzień/miesiąc/rok temu

Early / late - Wczesne / późno

Sooner / later - Wcześniej / późniejsze

Forever - Na zawsze

Always - Zawsze

Never - Nigdy

Sometimes - Czasem, czasami, niekiedy

From time to time - Od czasu do czasu

Rarely - Rzadko

Every day - Codziennie

Days of the week - Dni tygodnia

Monday - Poniedziałek

Tuesday - Wtorek

Wednesday - Środa

Thursday - Czwartek

Friday - Piątek

Saturday - Sobota

Sunday - Niedziela

Names of the months - Nazwy misięcy

January - Styczeń

February - Luty

March - Marzec

April - Kwiecień

May - Maj

June - Czerwiec

July - Lipiec

August - Sierpień

September - Wrzesień

October - Październik

November - Listopad

Do you, like I did, always roll the dice between は、に、or if you’re feeling adventurous, a comma? Well, no longer!

For the most part, telling time in Swedish is pretty straightforward (for English speakers).

I = to

Över = past

Kvart = quarter

Kvart i nio = quarter to nine

Fem över elva = five past eleven

However there is one slight complication. One way in which the Swedes think differently.

Halv = half

In Sweden we don’t ask “what time it is?”.... we ask “what is the clock?”.

Vad är klockan? = what time it is?

Klockan är fem = it’s five

Different languages have different ways of expressing the same things. Most likely because we have different ways of looking at the world.

In Italian one might ask “che ora è?”. As in “what hour is it?”. Not as precise, more of a relaxed attitude towards time.

In English we go a bit more abstract, almost philosophical with “what time it is?”. As if you could plug yourself into the universe and know the time.

day: dak (common)

today: idak

yesterday: ijar

tomorrow: imorjen

the day before yesterday: iworjar

Months.

When we write the month in English. We write it with capital letter. Example, January.

Month in Japanese is Gatsu(がつ). In Spanish is mes

The months in Japanese are named from the number one to the number twelve. You know, there are twelve months in a year so, the first month is January, and the last one is December. Therefore the first month is ichigatsu(いちがつ) the last one is juunigatsu (じゅうにがつ).

Note: we write the number first then the word Gatsu (がつ)

Numbers from one to twelve in Japanese:

One = ichi (いち) Two = ni (に) three = San (さん)

Four = Yon(よん) Five= go( ご) six = roku( ろく)

Seven = shichi ( しち ) Eight = hachi (hachi) Nine = ku(く)

Ten = juu (じゅう) Eleven= juuichi (じゅういち)

Twelve= juuni (じゅに)。

The first month いひがつ

The second month is にちがつ

The third month is さんがつ... And so on.

Other note. For the fourth month we don't write Yon (4) for referring to the month we use SHI (し) instead of Yon.

April = shigatsu( しがつ) Abril (Spanish)