# Swedish: konstigt vs. märkligt



## merryweather

Whilst doing my Swedish vocab course, I came across these two words - konstigt and märkligt - which weren't allowed as synonyms for each other.

My question is: ARE they more or less synonymous or do they have very different meanings from each other?

I would be grateful for lots of typical everyday sentences where these words might be used. Thanks very much in advance!


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## DerFrosch

merryweather said:


> Whilst doing my Swedish vocab course, I came across these two words - konstigt and märkligt - which weren't allowed as synonyms for each other.


They definitely should have been, in my opinion. They are very close in meaning and I'd say they can often be used interchangeably.

I should mention, however, that "_märklig" _was previously used in a more positive sense to mean _remarkable_, _notable_, in cases where we would probably use "_anmärkningsvärd_" in modern Swedish. I was surprised to see that _Norstedts engelska ordbok_ actually still lists _remarkable, notable_ as the first translations of "_märklig_". Märkligt, tycker jag  - I can't remember ever having seen it used like that in contemporary Swedish. But it's possible that this is the reason why they weren't allowed as synonyms.

Anyway, they both mean _strange_, _odd_, _peculiar_. I find it difficult to identify any real differences in meaning. But perhaps we could say that "_konstig_" is slightly more negative and judgmental; I'd be more inclined to use _weird _as a translation for "_konstig_" than for "_märklig_". "_Konstig_" is also slightly more informal.


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## merryweather

Tack för hjälpen! Det hade jag också tänkt!

My reading level in Swedish is pretty good - due to my knowledge of English and German - but I am not so good at writing yet.

From my reading of Swedish (I have now read a total of almost THREE novels in the last two years), and what I have heard my Swedish teacher say in my Swedish class, it did indeed seem that they are pretty much interchangeable.

As I am a course contributor for a couple of Swedish courses on memrise, I can now change this accordingly.

Det är mycket bra att man kan ställa sådana frågor här på det här forum! Jag är mycket tacksam för din stöd!


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## Sepia

... that is where the interscandinavian trouble starts. In Danish "maerkelig" means the same as "konstig" in Swedish. And in Danish "kunstig" means "artificial".


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## applefarm

My understanding:

noteworthy - märkligt, anmärkningsvärd
konstigt - strange, weird, difficult to understand

The one adjective is "noteworthy" which is used when something is worth/useful to say/note out.

"noteworthy" - important or interesting enough to be noticed : deserving attention.

Mostly are positive things noteworthy.

But all negative things get usually also people's attention and they note/say them out. Positive note can be for whole class if one student got very good grades from school year.
If one student has all years got the worst results then saying it out to the student's parents is a negative note but important and noteworthy thing to do.
If one student had best grades all last years and this year resulted for her to have the worst grades then this is not only a negative note to say out but it is strange and weird and difficult to understand/explain. That's why it is noteworthy but also strange.

I guess so.


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## DerFrosch

applefarm said:


> noteworthy - märkligt, anmärkningsvärd


_Noteworthy _can be used as a translation of the older sense of "_märklig"_, absolutely. But that's not how "_märklig_" is normally understood nowadays.


applefarm said:


> But all negative things get usually also people's attention and they note/say them out. Positive note can be for whole class if one student got very good grades from school year.
> If one student has all years got the worst results then saying it out to the student's parents is a negative note but important and noteworthy thing to do.
> If one student had best grades all last years and this year resulted for her to have the worst grades then this is not only a negative note to say out but it is strange and weird and difficult to understand/explain. That's why it is noteworthy but also strange.


I don't really know what you're trying to say with this, applefarm. The word "noteworthy" is not the topic of this thread. (By the way, your use of _note _is not idiomatic English, I'm afraid.)


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## applefarm

Hi,
sorry about the offtopic about "noteworthy".
I sometimes tend to use this forum topics for educating myself and often going offtopic with that.


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## AutumnOwl

I agree that _konstig/konstigt_ and _märklig/märkligt_ are more or less synonyms, but there are times when you really can't switch them, for example:
_Jag hade en konstig känsla i magen_ - I had a strange feeling in my stomach, but you can say _Jag såg något konstigt/märkligt i dag_.


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## DerFrosch

Yes, it's true that we can use "_konstig" _to describe our own physical sensations, and that "_märklig_" is hardly ever used in those cases. Another example is "_Jag känner mig lite konstig idag_", which you can translate as "_I feel a bit funny today_". Using "_märklig_" in that sentence would sound quite odd.


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## applefarm

I understand following way:

The adjective "weird/konstig" is used usually when the described thing is not fully understood or is completely not understood at all.

_The "konstig känsla" _is good to be used if one cannot explain why the current body and mind state is different from usual. 

The phrase "_konstig känsla"_ / "weird feeling" can also mean that one is suspicious/misstänksam about something.


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## DerFrosch

applefarm said:


> The adjective "konstig" is used usually when the described thing is not fully understood or is completely not understood at all.


Well, sort of. "_Konstig_" is used about things that aren't considered normal, that aren't as the speaker wants and/or expects them to be. But yes, there is an element of non-understanding - in the case of an action described as "_konstig_", for example, one doesn't understand why that action is performed... I suppose we could say. But that's not really the main meaning.


applefarm said:


> _The "konstig känsla" _is good to be used if one cannot explain why the current body and mind state is different from usual.


Basically, yes, that's a good explanation.


applefarm said:


> The phrase "_konstig känsla"_ can also mean that one is suspicious/misstänksam about something.


No, that's not really what the phrase means.

(I'm only commenting on the use of "_konstig_" here, not _weird_.)


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## applefarm

but is it true that it in everyday talk people express themselves in English like
"i have a weird feeling that it is going to rain tomorrow when we have the event"
In the sentence the "weird feeling"  means that one suspects that tomorrow will be raining.

and doesn't in Sweden people express themselves in swedish this way?


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## DerFrosch

Yes, we could say in Swedish: _Jag har en konstig känsla av att det kommer att regna i morgon. _That would indeed mean the same thing as the English sentence.

But to me that means that you find it strange that you have this feeling, since you can't know what the weather is going to be like. It's inexplicable, you don't know where this feeling comes from, it's not based on facts, but you just feel like you know it's going to rain.

So I don't find it accurate to say that "_konstig känsla_" is used to express suspicion, and the same goes for "_weird/strange feeling_".


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