# Swedish: bekänna och erkänna



## thedreamer

Finns det skillnad mellan erkänna och bekänna?

Kan du ge exempel?

Tack.


----------



## MattiasNYC

erkänna, to confess
erkännande can however also be appreciation.

bekänna, to confess
bekännelse can however be specific to a religious confession, and other forms can also relate to religion.


----------



## thedreamer

bekännelse är associerad med tex brott.
erkännande är associerad med tex godkänt, då. 

stämmer det?


----------



## MattiasNYC

thedreamer said:


> bekännelse är associerad med tex brott.



I actually think both can be used in conjunction with criminality. "He confessed a crime" I would write as "Han erkände ett brott". It's possible that "erkänna" is more common actually.



thedreamer said:


> erkännande är associerad med tex godkänt, då.
> 
> stämmer det?



"Löneförhöjningen var ett erkännande av hans goda arbete." The raise was a sign of appreciation for his good work. Something like that. I would not use "godkänt" literally since it means something more specific, "approved". "Chefen godkände löneförhöjningen, vilken var ett erkännande av hans goda arbete." The boss approved his raise, which was a sign of appreciation for his good work.


----------



## thedreamer

Tack för hjälpen!


----------



## myšlenka

Hi,
if Swedish _bekänna_ and _erkänna_ mean the same thing as in Norwegian, then they are quite different. Would I be right in assuming the following?

_bekänna_ - to make something known (to confess) or to express that you have knowledge about something.
_erkänna_ - to admit or to understand/realize/be aware of something (realizing in the sense of accept).

(Sorry for writing this in English, but it would take me a lot longer to write it in Swedish.)


----------



## MattiasNYC

myšlenka said:


> Hi,
> if Swedish _bekänna_ and _erkänna_ mean the same thing as in Norwegian, then they are quite different. Would I be right in assuming the following?
> 
> _bekänna_ - to make something known (to confess) or to express that you have knowledge about something.
> _erkänna_ - to admit or to understand/realize/be aware of something (realizing in the sense of accept).
> 
> (Sorry for writing this in English, but it would take me a lot longer to write it in Swedish.)



Actually, I don't think that's entirely correct, but hopefully someone else can clarify it and correct me if it's inconclusive.

_-> "*bekänna*_- to make something known (to confess) or to express that you have knowledge about something." 

I guess that's essentially correct. I get the feeling the word isn't frequently used compared to the other. One example would be "att bekänna färg" which is to either confess what one believes in after having been asked about it one way or another, but often also in an indirect way where someone makes a statement without necessarily having been asked about it. It could thus be a case where a politician talks about one thing and lets some information slip about another topic and therefore has "confessed", or "stated" an opinion. I recall this is not an uncommon usage of the phrase and it does imply that the person making the confession has directly or indirectly created an image that tries to convince people the opinion is in fact different. So it can be used in controversial cases. 

But other than that I recall hearing it mostly in religious contexts.

_-> *erkänna*_- to admit or to understand/realize/be aware of something (realizing in the sense of accept).

Certainly it means "to admit", but I think the other two do not qualify. "Att erkänna" is an act and not "a state" if you will. So it would not be used to say that someone is realizing or are aware of something, but rather it could be used to explain the act of admitting such a realization or awareness. So, for example: "Erkänner du att fotboll är bättre än baseball?" - "Do you admit that football is better than baseball?". I don't think this usage has to be perceived as as "harsh" as admitting to a crime, i.e. a person is faced with a request to admit guilt. It can be a somewhat "softer" expression of what one believes. One could use it for example in a political discussion where one has made a point about X but then admits that Y is also the case, the latter in a sense being perhaps mitigating the former: "Jag tycker definitivt att alla brott bör utredas och brottslingar bestraffas, _*men jag erkänner*_ att alla brott inte är lika allvarliga och behöver samma påföljd." (I definitely think all crimes should be investigated and criminals punished, but I admit that all crimes aren't equally serious and need the same sentencing)... sorry for that bad example 

EDITED: If you look the words up in a thesaurus for example they'll come up as synonyms. I think that is only true for some cases however, and in addition there are more cases of usage for the terms that I can't recall right now.


----------



## myšlenka

MattiasNYC said:


> If you look the words up in a thesaurus for example they'll come up as synonyms.


Well, that was sort of the point I was trying to make. I don't think they are synonyms at all.

_bekänna sina synder_ - this implies telling someone about your sins.
_erkänna sina synder_ - this does not imply listing up your sins at all but rather that you recognize or accept them as such.

I am maybe on thin ice here, but it would really surprise me if these words are synonyms in Swedish.


----------



## MattiasNYC

myšlenka said:


> Well, that was sort of the point I was trying to make. I don't think they are synonyms at all.
> 
> _bekänna sina synder_ - this implies telling someone about your sins.
> _erkänna sina synder_ - this does not imply listing up your sins at all but rather that you recognize or accept them as such.
> 
> I am maybe on thin ice here, but it would really surprise me if these words are synonyms in Swedish.



Sorry, I think I wrote that poorly. What I meant to say was that some sources on Swedish synonyms will list them but that it only partially applies. So in some cases either can be used. That's what I meant by that.

As for your examples I agree with the first, that it implies telling someone about one's sins. The second however _can _be the very same thing. If a person is accused of having sinned and is confronted with it, I think "_erkänna" _is appropriate to describe a confession. So:

"Pastorn: Du är en syndare! Erkänn!"
"Jag: Ja, jag erkänner att jag stal bilen."

What you say is true too though, and that is what I meant with my example on crime and punishment.


----------



## raumar

Is it possible that the distinction between these concepts is a bit stronger in Norwegian than in Swedish? 

In Norwegian, I would only use _bekjenne_ in a religious context; the Swedish expression "att bekänna färg" is not used in Norwegian. I agree with myšlenka's explanation of how e_rkjenne_ is used in Norwegian -- maybe "acknowledge" would be the best English translation? 

The question is which word we use when we talk about confessing a crime to the police. I would neither use _bekjenne_ nor _erkjenne_ in that case, but _tilstå_. I suppose that _erkjenne_ wouldn't be incorrect, but I think it is less used in this context. How is this in Swedish - would _tillstå _be used?


----------



## MattiasNYC

raumar said:


> Is it possible that the distinction between these concepts is a bit stronger in Norwegian than in Swedish?
> 
> In Norwegian, I would only use _bekjenne_ in a religious context; the Swedish expression "att bekänna färg" is not used in Norwegian. I agree with myšlenka's explanation of how e_rkjenne_ is used in Norwegian -- maybe "acknowledge" would be the best English translation?




"acknowledge" for "erkjenne"? I wouldn't know. For "bekänna" it could apply I suppose. But for "bekänna färg" I think "admit" is more appropriate, or possibly "confess".



raumar said:


> The question is which word we use when we talk about confessing a crime to the police. I would neither use _bekjenne_ nor _erkjenne_ in that case, but _tilstå_. I suppose that _erkjenne_ wouldn't be incorrect, but I think it is less used in this context. How is this in Swedish - would _tillstå _be used?



I don't recall having heard "_tillstå "_ in that context.


----------



## Hannouschka

Wouldn't it be fair to say that in Swedish "erkänna" is closer to "admit" and "bekänna" is closer to "confess"? (I'm talking about the meaning of the words here, not the context in which they are used.)

Spontaneously, I would also say that a "bekännelse" is something longer, where you're expressing and explaining yourself, whereas "erkännande" can (but doesn't have to I suppose) be a simple "yes, I did that".

I think this applies well to expressions such as "bekänna sin kärlek" or "bekännelselitteratur"


----------

