# Swedish: "sooner than later"



## Elektrisk564

Hej.
Hur skulle man säga "sooner than later" på svenska?
Jag hade tänkt att säga, "snarare än senare", men Google har inte så många resultat med den där frasen. 

Tusen tack.


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## Wilma_Sweden

Hello and welcome to the Nordic forum. 

It is hard to give you a good answer without context and background. Please provide the whole English sentence in which you want to use the phrase. Otherwise it will be hard to determine what the best Swedish phrase would be.

Hint: the opposite of senare is förr or tidigare depending on context. Snarare is rarely used as a time adverbial, it's rather like rather (degree). 

/Wilma


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## Elektrisk564

Let's say that I wanted to say, "Sooner than later, you'll grow up." It doesn't seem like saying "tidigare" would fit in this context.. what do you think? Maybe give me examples of some of the possible phrases? Thanks!


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## Lugubert

Förr eller senare.


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## DieuEtMonDroit

Yes, and _förr eller senare_ is probably fit for translating _sooner or later_ in almost every case..


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## hanne

I haven't heard "sooner than later" before, but I wouldn't expect it to be the same as "sooner or later" (~eventually), I'd be more inclined to think it's the same as "rather sooner than later" (~as soon as possible). In Danish that would be "hellere før end siden".


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## Dan2

"sooner than later" is a fairly recent idiom.  I've always heard it used as hanne suggests.  So...
"You should do it sooner or later" = You should do it, but it doesn't matter when.
"You should do it sooner than later" = You should do it soon; don't wait.
Some people don't like the latter expression, feeling one should say "sooner rather than later".


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## DieuEtMonDroit

Hm, I am wondering if there is an equivalent expression in swedish to _sooner (rather) than later_.

We do have the expression _hellre sent än aldrig_, but I do not think it has the same meaning.


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## Lars H

Hej!

"He avoids the problem, but sooner or later he has to deal with it"
"Han undviker problemet, men förr eller senare måste han ta itu med det"

"You need to fix the hole in the roof sooner rather/than later". (Wouldn't "the sooner the better" work?)
"Du måste laga hålet i taket, ju förr desto bättre".

When it comes to something that inevitably will happen, the Swedish and English sayings are strict translations of each others.
But to express a wish for urgency or hurry, go for "ju förr desto bättre"


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