Swedish listening practice: midsummer plans
An A1 Swedish listening dialogue about midsommar plans. Dancing, herring, strawberries, and the eternal question of rain. With transcript and translation.
Two colleagues talk about their plans for midsommar, the biggest party in the Swedish year. One is going to the countryside, the other stays in the city, and both know it will probably rain. Listen for where each of them is going.
Swedish
— Vad gör du på midsommar?
— Vi åker till Dalarna. Min familj har ett hus där.
— Vad trevligt!
— Ja, vi dansar runt midsommarstången och äter sill och jordgubbar.
— Och om det regnar?
— [laughs] Då dansar vi i regnet! Det regnar alltid lite på midsommar.
— Och du? Vad gör du?
— Jag firar med vänner i Stockholm. Vi grillar i en park.
— Trevlig midsommar!
— Tack, detsamma!
English
What are you doing at midsummer?
We're going to Dalarna. My family has a house there.
How nice!
Yes, we dance around the midsummer pole and eat herring and strawberries.
And if it rains?
Then we dance in the rain! It always rains a little at midsummer.
And you? What are you doing?
I'm celebrating with friends in Stockholm. We're grilling in a park.
Happy midsummer!
Thanks, same to you!
Passage vocabulary
- Vad gör du?: what are you doing? (gör is "do", the same word you met in answers like Ja, det gör jag)
- åker till: travels to, goes to (by some kind of vehicle)
- Vad trevligt!: how nice!
- om: if. You know om from time expressions (om fem minuter); before a clause like this, it means "if".
- då: then, in that case
- regnet: the rain
- grillar: grills, barbecues
- Trevlig midsommar!: happy midsummer!
- detsamma: the same to you. The automatic answer to any holiday greeting.
The history behind the holiday, and what the citizenship test asks about it, lives in the prep module Traditioner och högtider.