Easy Swedish reader: a normal day, with fika

One ordinary day in Amir's life, told hour by hour in the present tense. Along the way you meet fika, the twice-daily coffee ritual that Swedish workplaces treat as close to mandatory. Watch the clock times go by and notice the verb landing in second position every time a sentence starts with the time.

Swedish

Klockan är halv sju på morgonen. Amir vaknar och dricker en kopp te. Han äter en smörgås och lyssnar på radio.

Klockan åtta börjar han arbeta. Amir arbetar på en restaurang i Västerås.

Klockan tio dricker alla kaffe. Det heter fika. Svenskar fikar varje dag, ofta två gånger. Man dricker kaffe, äter en kanelbulle och pratar. På jobbet är fika viktigt.

Klockan tolv äter Amir lunch. På eftermiddagen arbetar han igen, och klockan fem slutar han och går hem.

På kvällen lagar han mat och tittar på tv. Klockan elva sover han.

English

It's half past six in the morning. Amir wakes up and drinks a cup of tea. He eats a sandwich and listens to the radio.

At eight he starts work. Amir works at a restaurant in Västerås.

At ten, everyone drinks coffee. It's called fika. Swedes fika every day, often twice. You drink coffee, eat a cinnamon bun and talk. At work, fika matters.

At twelve Amir eats lunch. In the afternoon he works again, and at five he finishes and goes home.

In the evening he cooks food and watches TV. At eleven he's asleep.

Passage vocabulary

vaknar: wakes up
en smörgås: a sandwich (usually an open one; Sweden runs on them)
fika: the coffee break, as noun and verb. Vi fikar klockan tio is a complete and very Swedish sentence.
man: one, you in general. Swedish uses this little word constantly for "people in general".
pratar: talks, chats (an everyday synonym of talar)
en kanelbulle: a cinnamon bun
två gånger: twice, two times
slutar: finishes, ends
igen: again
lagar mat: cooks (literally: fixes food)
tittar på tv: watches TV