# Swedish: Så to start a sentence



## ad31677

Hi All,

In the "Inte eller ej" thread I started, Åvävvla commented 



> jag tycker att det blir fel att skriva så i ett brev eftersom mottagaren inte ser dig




when I had written




> Så, om jag skriver "ej" istället för "inte" i ett personligt brev,  jag kanske ser ut pompöst?



I am a little confused: I had intended så to mean "So, ..." as I would write in English (or "Also,..." as it is used in German).  Norstedts seems to give comparable use of Så in this situation along with "alltså" and "jaså".  Maybe I am just reading it wrong.  Could someone clarify this, please.

Mvh,
Aidan


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## ad31677

My apologies, I think I spotted my mistake: Åvävvla didn't mean the word "så" literally - he used it to refer back to my use of "pompös[t]" with "ser ut" in a letter.

I'll go and crawl back under my rock now but any clarification on the original question on the use of "så" is still gratefully received.

Mvh,
Aidan


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## Tjahzi

I would spontaneously say that _så_ works very much like English _so_. Assuming that was your question.


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## AutumnOwl

There are many ways to translate the little word "så" to English, in Åvävvlas example I would guess "så" is short for "på så(dant) sätt" - "in such a manner". In my Swedish-English dictionary the possible translations of "so" in different sentences takes 3½ columns, so there are more options than "so" and "also".


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## ad31677

Tjahzi said:


> I would spontaneously say that _så_ works very much like English _so_. Assuming that was your question.



Jag undrade specifikt om "Så" i början av meningen, t.ex. "So, we decided to go to Skellefteå after all...", för att säga "därfor" (eller, på tysk, _also_) men mer för talspråk.

Tack,
Aidan


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## Lars H

"Så vi bestämde oss för att åka till Skellefteå trots allt..."

Fungerar bra. Ordet "Så" här indikerar att i meningen innan har du förklarat att beslutet inte var klart, som exempelvis: "We hesitated at first, since it was a long trip, but it would be worth it". 
Men "därför" fungerar också, både i skrift och tal.


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## enion

In some situations, could "så" and "jo" be interchangeable at the beginning of sentences then? Inasmuch as "so" and "well" in English would be?

For example when telling someone an anecdote etc.:

So, a guy walks into the room...
Well, a guy walks into the room...

Thanks!


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## sär-skrivning

enion said:


> In some situations, could "så" and "jo" be interchangeable at the beginning of sentences then? Inasmuch as "so" and "well" in English would be?
> 
> For example when telling someone an anecdote etc.:
> 
> So, a guy walks into the room...
> Well, a guy walks into the room...
> 
> Thanks!




I'm not exactly sure at what type of situations you're referring to, but in the example given about the anecdote, it sounds strange to begin the whole story (first sentence) with the word "så". Unless you've explained the reasons as to why he walks into the room before you say "så". 

I'm most definitely not an expert, and maybe I'm wrong, I'm simply giving you my personal opinion as a native speaker.

Hope it helps! (or that someone corrects me )


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## ad31677

enion said:


> In some situations, could "så" and "jo" be interchangeable at the beginning of sentences then? Inasmuch as "so" and "well" in English would be?
> 
> For example when telling someone an anecdote etc.:
> 
> So, a guy walks into the room...
> Well, a guy walks into the room...
> 
> Thanks!



Well, in English, I would say these are not exactly equivalent: starting with _so_ (as sär-skrivning points out) would seem a little unusual albeit not necessarily invalid.  Seamus Heaney's recent and enjoyable translation of the old English epic Beowulf starts in just this way - with the word _So_ (and the Bi-lingual version I have has a forword explaining his thinking); and, I've heard other colloquial uses (stand up comedians etc.).  But I guess I'd argue that using _so_ thus in English instead of _well_ would amount to a literary or maybe dialietal affectation.

Not sure if that really helps anyone with Swedish aspect. Ho hum.


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## enion

Thanks for your replies!

I suppose what I mean is that both "well" and "so" in the English sentences don't necessarily *mean* anything, they are only some sort of interjections (that's not really the right word, not sure what to call them...) at the beginning of the sentence and (apart from the tone perhaps) the sentences wouldn't lose any of their meaning if these words were omitted (ok, I'm struggling a bit to explain it...) So in this context they are kind of interchangeable (although I agree, they are not exactly the same).

As in, you could start with "Here's that story/anecdote/joke I meant to tell you. So, (probably more than "well" in this context) a guy walks into a room..."

What word would you use in Swedish to express that "so"? Would "jo" be more appropriate then? But then Tjahzi says "så" works like the English "so" and I'd say "so" works in this context... Or can it be either? Or perhaps some other word entirely?

Does that make sense?


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## sär-skrivning

enion said:


> Thanks for your replies!
> 
> I suppose what I mean is that both "well" and "so" in the English sentences don't necessarily *mean* anything, they are only some sort of interjections (that's not really the right word, not sure what to call them...) at the beginning of the sentence and (apart from the tone perhaps) the sentences wouldn't lose any of their meaning if these words were omitted (ok, I'm struggling a bit to explain it...) So in this context they are kind of interchangeable (although I agree, they are not exactly the same).
> 
> As in, you could start with "Here's that story/anecdote/joke I meant to tell you. So, (probably more than "well" in this context) a guy walks into a room..."
> 
> What word would you use in Swedish to express that "so"? Would "jo" be more appropriate then? But then Tjahzi says "så" works like the English "so" and I'd say "so" works in this context... Or can it be either? Or perhaps some other word entirely?
> 
> Does that make sense?




My personal opinion would be "jo" in that case.

an example just to clarify: "Oh that's right! I was going to
tell you that anecdote/joke/story. So this guy walks into..."

Freely translated: "Just det! Jag skulle ju berätta den där
anekdoten/skämtet/berättelsen. Jo(,) en kille kommer in i/går in i..."

To use "så" in this particular context sounds wrong (however, I
can't say that it is grammatically incorrect, but to me, it sounds
incorrect)

Cheers


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## AutumnOwl

sär-skrivning said:


> My personal opinion would be "jo" in that case.
> 
> an example just to clarify: "Oh that's right! I was going to
> tell you that anecdote/joke/story. So this guy walks into..."
> 
> Freely translated: "Just det! Jag skulle ju berätta den där
> anekdoten/skämtet/berättelsen. Jo(,) en kille kommer in i/går in i..."
> 
> To use "så" in this particular context sounds wrong (however, I
> can't say that it is grammatically incorrect, but to me, it sounds
> incorrect)
> 
> Cheers


I agree with using "jo" in this sentence and that "så" sounds wrong, but you could use the word "alltså" - "Alltså, en kille kommer in i/går in i..." Using "alltså" is more accentuating what you are going to tell, while "jo" sounds more vague.


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## enion

Excellent, all makes sense now. Thanks soooo much for that!


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