Day 152: Inväntar

Two buses and two train rides later, I am at home (after a detour to Gamla Stan for this evening's Swedish language exchange). I find it really interesting (and fun) to talk language and especially to try to explain the meaning of words in Swedish to foreigners who are trying to learn Swedish.

Today, though, I was tickled by my own use of the Swedish language. The train from Östersund to Sundsvall was slightly delayed and as there were only 10 minutes between its originally scheduled arrival and the departure of the train from Sundsvall to Stockholm, there was not much room for delays. The conductor stopped at each car to let passengers know at which platform we would be arriving and which platform the Stockholm train would be leaving from. My question to him was, "Inväntar de oss?" which translates into "Will they wait for us?"

"Väntar" in Swedish means "wait" so naturally my "students" wanted to know why "inväntar" and what the difference is between the two. We spent a good 15 minutes on the subject (in Swedish) during which I kind of explained it and they kind of got it. What tickled me is that I used the word altogether. It was one of those moments when I surprise myself with my grasp of this language which I began learning quite late in life.

And now for some much needed catch-up-sleep...sweet dreams everyone!