# Swedish: gett vs. givit



## qiaozhehui

I started a new job last week and noticed that one of my co-workers uses the verb form *givit* instead of *gett* for the supine form of *ger*, such as in the following sentence:

_Jag har redan givit honom medicin._

I had never heard this form before, so I checked Lexin to see what the 'official' verb forms were. Sure enough, Lexin lists the following variant verb forms for _ger_:

*ger*_ gav gett (el. givit) ge(!) (el. giv! giva)_

Basically, I'm wondering if the supine form _givit_ is dialectical since I haven't heard it before. The woman who I hear use that form comes from a town just south of Stockholm. Is there any stylistic difference between the two forms (i.e. is one more 'proper' than the other)? Or is it just a matter of preference?

Thanks for your help!

Joshua


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## cocuyo

Givit is the more common form, particularly in writing, but it is far from obsolete in speech, while "gett" is typically colloquial and should be avoided in wtiting. There are a few idioms though where "gett" is prevalent over "givit", as "gett upp" and "gett igen" - however they could equally be written (or said) with "givit". 

I don't know to what extent different forms of "giva" remain in various vernaculars, but about fifty years ago, I often heard the imperative plural "given" in the order "given akt" (giv akt) in Eringsboda Hemvärn. The supinum form "givit" still is current.


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## Lars H

qiaozhehui said:


> Is there any stylistic difference between the two forms (i.e. is one more 'proper' than the other)? Or is it just a matter of preference?
> 
> Thanks for your help!
> 
> Joshua



Hej!

To me, "gett" look a bit common in writing (regardless of what any lexika may say about it), but on the other hand that is the word I use when I speak.

I would say that "givit" is the more proper word to use in written Swedish, but it is both a little bit old fashioned and actually quite uncomfortable to pronounce with its double i's.

We have a most vital relative to this word in "givande" (rewarding), that only exists in this form.

Best regards


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## Wilma_Sweden

cocuyo said:


> Givit is the more common form, particularly in writing, but it is far from obsolete in speech, while "gett" is typically colloquial and should be avoided in wtiting.


I beg to differ. If you look in the press corpus, gett outnumbers givit by at least 2:1 already in the material from the 70s. The same situation is true for their literary texts, from the 70s and 80s. For what it's worth, today you can google the sites of our major newspapers, such as DN or Svenska Dagbladet, and you will find a huge preference for gett.

I would say that gett is the standard option today except for in very highly formal texts such as perhaps legal ones, academic texts etc. To me it looks old-fashioned, and I'm 49!


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## Södertjej

Men visst säger man uppgiven, övergiven. Inte upp- övergett, eller?


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## cocuyo

Uppgiven säger man, och det har två vitt skilda betydelser. Uppgett och övergett förekommer också, men betyder så klart inte samma sak. Uppgiven adress är den som jag har uppgivit=meddelat. Hon var uppgiven betyder ungefär att hon har resignerat och funnit sig i sin lott. Och jag kan ha uppgett ett felaktigt nummer och jag har ännu inte övergett tanken på att lära mig spanska.


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## Södertjej

Jag menade som adjektiv, inte "jag har xxxgett".


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## Wilma_Sweden

Södertjej said:


> Jag menade som adjektiv, inte "jag har xxxgett".


Om jag förstått dig rätt, menar du participformerna av verbet som bildar adjektiv, eller hur?

ex: Den *uppgivna* adressen visade sig vara felaktig. (uppge)
En *övergiven* väska på T-Centralen visade sig vara en bomb. (överge)
Man ska aldrig skåda *given* häst i munnen. (ge)

Dessa participformer har inga alternativ, alltså heter det given, givet, givna.  Former i stil med gedd, gedda  är möjligen något som barn säger innan de lärt sig böja oregelbundna verb.


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## Södertjej

Precis, Wilma, det var det jag menade. Tack!


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## Delfinen

I agree with Wilma. According to Svenska Akademiens språklära (2003) _gett_ dominates over _givit_. It has nothing to do with dialect, but in certain context (as medicine) there is a tradition of using "old" forms.​


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