2023-07-30 09:38:38
The Local reached out to Anneli Beronius Haake (Swedish Made Easy), Swedish teacher and author of Teach Yourself Complete Swedish, to put together a list of words you might hear and read in the upcoming weeks as prices continue to soar.
(a) electricity price subsidy – literally, electricity price support. The government will provide support to both individuals and businesses, to help cope with high electric costs. Individuals can expect a payout in February, it’s not yet clear what date businesses can expect theirs.
(a) high cost cover – high cost protection. There have previously been discussions about high cost protections to cap electricity prices or agreements for the government to cover everything over a certain amount, but following the recent elections, it doesn’t look like this is going to happen.
(a) amortization vs (a) interest – if you own your own house or apartment, then you already know that these words refer to payments on your mortgage (noun: amortization, verb: to amortize) and payments against the interest on your mortgage. If you’re thinking about buying, keep an eye on these two – and on interest rates (interest)!
(a) hot rent vs (a) cold rent – if you’re on the market for a new rental apartment, you might see these two words pop up. Hot rent (literally: “warm rent”) means heating is included in the rental price. Cold rent (literally, “cold rent”) means that the rental price does not include heating costs.
(a) heating – heating, or heating costs. If your heating costs are included in your rent, you don’t have to worry about this. Instead, you only need to keep an eye on:
(a) household electricity – or household electricity. This covers the electricity you use for everything in your home, from charging your mobile phone to using your oven.
Energy efficient – energy efficient. You might see this word stuck on a dishwasher or fridge if you’re shopping for new household appliances, signalling that it will help cut down on your electric costs. Similarly, you may see the word to skimp (to scrimp or save) used in the phrases to skimp on energy (to save on energy) or to skimp on money (to save money).
(a) energy crisis – an energy crisis.
personal finance – personal finances. You may see this not only referring to individuals, but also to households, where it will be written as the private finances of households.
household expenses – household costs, again, linked to the private finances of householdsthis usually refers to shared expenses (shared costs), such as water and electricity bills, insurance and internet, but can also cover other costs such as food, hygiene products such as toilet paper, and even mobile phone contracts.
(a) energy company, (a) electricity producer – an energy company, an energy producer.
(a) electrical area – an energy zone. Sweden is split into four energy zones, with the most expensive energy prices in the south of the country, covering the three largest cities: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö (zones 3 and 4), and the cheapest prices in the north (zones 1 and 2).
To save – to save. This can be in the sense of to save money (to save money), or to save on costs/electricity (to save on costs/electricity).
To rise/increase/raise – these three verbs all relate to increases, but with their own nuances.
Riseor increases in the present tense means ‘rises’, and can be used to describe rising petrol prices.
To increase, or increases in the present tense means ‘increases’, and can be used to describe how the price of groceries are increasing.
Finally, to raise, or raises in the present tense means ‘raises’ – when you can point out that something or someone has raised the price of something, for example, when describing how banks are raising interest rates.
To decrease/decrease – these two verbs both relate to decreases, again with their own nuances.
To sinkor sinks in the present tense (literally sinking) means fall/slump/drop, and can be used to refer to price falls.
To reduceor reduces, on the other hand, is like increases, because it is used when describing how something has decreased, like your electricity usage might decrease this winter in light of rising prices.
Similarly to sink, you may see the verb To sink (to lower), in the sense of lowering the heating (to lower the heat) or lowering household costs (to reduce household expenses).
(a) expense – an expense, plural expenditure – expenses.
(an income – income. A source of income would be (a) source of income.
(a wallet – literally, this means wallet. Figuratively, it also means your bank account and its contents. Headlines about money leaving your plånbok don’t mean money is vanishing from your wallet, but from your bank account. During the recent Swedish election, for example, politicians spoke about wallet issues (literally “wallet issues”), issues affecting people’s income and spending power.
To reduce expenses – to cut down on your expenses. This is related to the phrase to review expenses: to take a look at your expenses, for example to see if there are any areas you can cut down.
To tighten the swing belt – to tighten one’s belt.
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