# Swedish: Gärna



## Mat_iu

Hey, I'd like to know the meaning of this word. I've looked up on the internet and it's not very clear when is used (and swedes use it a lot) it says it means "easily" but i've seen it used in different ways.


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## AutumnOwl

Mat_iu said:


> it says it means "easily"


From where have you got this translation of _gärna_? It's not something I would use, _gärna_ can be translated as gladly, freely, willingly, readily, with pleasure.

_Jag kommer gärna_ - I will come with pleasure (when getting an invitation)
_Tack, gärna_ - Yes, thanks (with pleasure) (when offered something, for example a cup of coffe)
_Han berättar gärna om sina barnbarn_ - He talks readily about his grandchildren
_Katten vill gärna gå ut_ - The cat wants (is willing) to go out


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## cocuyo

_det vill jag gärna_ - me encantaría


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## Ben Jamin

I think that a generic translation of _gärna _into English can be "willingly". You can actually replace any of the words used as translation with "willingly" and still understand the meaning, even if it is not idiomatic. In the case of the sentence with the cat, there will be doubling of "will" (will willingly), but it can be treated as a strengthening. One possible translation for "vill gärna" is "is eager to".


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## MattiasNYC

AutumnOwl said:


> From where have you got this translation of _gärna_? It's not something I would use, _gärna_ can be translated as gladly, freely, willingly, readily, with pleasure.
> 
> *Jag kommer gärna *- I will come with pleasure (when getting an invitation)



I know this is the Swedish section, but* the idiomatic response in at least AE would be closer to "I'd love to come."* The way it's phrased above is a bit less idiomatic and more likely to sound like a euphemism (wink wink).

I actually think "I'd love (to)" is a pretty good approximation in a lot of cases. In at least AE I perceive it as being a bit less "strong" than it looks, and thus closer to _gärna_. Or, as an alternative "I'd like (to/that/etc) For example; 

*Tack, gärna *- Yes, thanks (with pleasure) (when offered something, for example a cup of coffe)
*Thanks, I'd love some (coffee).*

*Han berättar gärna om sina barnbarn -* He talks readily about his grandchildren
In this case I don't think it'd work because "love" would likely be perceived stronger. *Possibly "He likes to talk about his grandchildren"*

*Katten vill gärna gå ut* - The cat wants (is willing) to go out
*The cat would like to go out.*


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## Dan2

Ben Jamin said:


> I think that a generic translation of _gärna _into English can be "willingly". You can actually replace any of the words used as translation with "willingly" and still understand the meaning, even if it is not idiomatic.


My opinion follows; disagreement welcome.

To me, "willingly" is not positive enough.

Over the centuries there's been a lot of meaning "drift" with respect to the Germanic will-/vil- root (compare Scandinavian, English, and German uses), and even within English there are several distinctly different meanings.

When I say someone is "willing" to do something, it does not at all mean that he is _wanting _to do it.  Rather it means that if he is asked, he will (=future-tense marker) do it without complaining, but also probably without enthusiasm.  It does NOT mean "it was his will to do it".

Likewise, "He did it willingly" means he did it without being forced to do it and without complaining, maybe even with a smile, but probably only because he was asked, not because he actively wanted to do it.

So if someone invites me somewhere, corresponding to "Tack, gärna", I would not say, "Yes, willingly" because it would sound like I was merely _willing _to come, that is, that I had neither objections to, nor enthusiasm about, going.

Matthias's comments seem very reasonable to me.  In particular, he suggests "I'd love to".  There's a huge difference between "love to" and "be willing to".


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## cocuyo

Thank you Dan2 for further explaining the usage of _willingly_. It is a help for me, not anglophone, to understand better.

However, I understood the OP question as trying to find a good Spanish expression for the Swedish word _gärna_, and therefore I uttered one of the umpteen variants of expressing _"I'd love to"_ -- _"me encantaría"_, which imho more or less corresponds to _"I'd be thrilled"_. Further looking in the WordReference dictionary, suggestions for _thrilled_ are: _emocionado, entusiasmado_ and _excitado_.

All of these, perhaps with exception of _entusiasmado_, to me seem a tad stronger emotionally than _gärna, _which really is used fairly much as _"I'd love to"_. Perhaps _"me encantaría"_ is a bit over the top, more than was asked for. More appropriate perhaps would be: _"Sí, me gustaría"_, which more closely corresponds to _"det vill jag gärna"_ -- more like_ "I would like to do it"_.

I hope this could help the OP to find the most suitable translation.


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## Dan2

Hi cocuyo,

I thought your response was fine.  Note that in my post I quoted the suggestion that "willingly" was a good overall translation of "gärna".  That's the only thing I was objecting to.


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## Ben Jamin

Dan2 said:


> My opinion follows; disagreement welcome.
> 
> To me, "willingly" is not positive enough.
> 
> Over the centuries there's been a lot of meaning "drift" with respect to the Germanic will-/vil- root (compare Scandinavian, English, and German uses), and even within English there are several distinctly different meanings.
> 
> When I say someone is "willing" to do something, it does not at all mean that he is _wanting _to do it.  Rather it means that if he is asked, he will (=future-tense marker) do it without complaining, but also probably without enthusiasm.  It does NOT mean "it was his will to do it".
> 
> Likewise, "He did it willingly" means he did it without being forced to do it and without complaining, maybe even with a smile, but probably only because he was asked, not because he actively wanted to do it.
> 
> So if someone invites me somewhere, corresponding to "Tack, gärna", I would not say, "Yes, willingly" because it would sound like I was merely _willing _to come, that is, that I had neither objections to, nor enthusiasm about, going.
> 
> Matthias's comments seem very reasonable to me.  In particular, he suggests "I'd love to".  There's a huge difference between "love to" and "be willing to".


Thanks for your explanation! It is interesting and sets a new perspective. I would translate "gärna" to my mother tongue as "chętnie" "z chęcią" (literally *wishingly"). Maybe "happily" would work in English?

In some contexts "gärna" can be translated as "if you wish", example "Ta gärna ett äple" (help yourself with an apple).


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## raumar

I don't really think we should try to find a general translation of _gärna._ That may be misleading. Maybe it is more useful for learners, if we can explain the different meanings of this word?

I agree that "I'd love to" is a good translation in many cases. In other contexts, _gärna _(and _gjerne_ in Norwegian) implies much less enthusiasm. Some examples are mentioned in the posts above, as in Ben Jamin's apple example. Another example - from ord.se:  ord.se - Sökning: gärna - is "_gärna för mig_" -- which doesn't mean "I'd love to", but rather "I have no objection" or "it's all the same to me" (according to ord.se). This difference must be difficult for learners! Yet another meaning is "often, generally", as in "_... följden blir gärna den ..._" (also from ord.se).


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## Ben Jamin

raumar said:


> I don't really think we should try to find a general translation of _gärna._ That may be misleading. Maybe it is more useful for learners, if we can explain the different meanings of this word?
> 
> I agree that "I'd love to" is a good translation in many cases. In other contexts, _gärna _(and _gjerne_ in Norwegian) implies much less enthusiasm. Some examples are mentioned in the posts above, as in Ben Jamin's apple example. Another example - from ord.se:  ord.se - Sökning: gärna - is "_gärna för mig_" -- which doesn't mean "I'd love to", but rather "I have no objection" or "it's all the same to me" (according to ord.se). This difference must be difficult for learners! Yet another meaning is "often, generally", as in "_... följden blir gärna den ..._" (also from ord.se).


I agree with what you say about the need of explaining all the meanings and shades of a word or expression, but I find very often useful to find out how it is possible that one word can express som many different, and even contradictory meanings. The key to understand this is often to find the original core meaning, and translate it, even using a non existent (but understandable) word. From this word it is possible to track the many possible meanings and understand the gradual changes.


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## Hans Molenslag

An interesting use of _gärna_ is as a politeness marker in requests, e.g. _Du får gärna ge oss fler förslag._


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## Ben Jamin

Hans M. said:


> An interesting use of _gärna_ is as a politeness marker in requests, e.g. _Du får gärna ge oss fler förslag._


This is exactly the same meaning as in #9 last sentence. It can be translated with "if you wish" or "if you please", and expreesses a polite encouraging.


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## cocuyo

Recursive <-- See recursive


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## Hans Molenslag

Ben Jamin said:


> This is exactly the same meaning as in #9 last sentence. It can be translated with "if you wish" or "if you please", and expreesses a polite encouraging.


Oh, sorry, I missed that example apparently.


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