# Swedish: Bry sig / care about, care for



## sakvaka

Consider these two sentences.

_I don't care about the elderly._
_I don't care for chocolate._

Usually "care about" is translated into Swedish as "bry sig om":
_Jag bryr mig inte om åldringar._

But can it also be used for "caring for", ie. liking? Is _Jag bryr mig inte om choklad_ correct or should I say _jag tycker inte/illa om choklad_?

Ni kan besvara frågan även på svenska om det känns lättare. Tack!


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## Renaissance man

No, the Swedish expression has only the "care about" meaning. If you want to say that you don't care much for chocolate, you could say "Jag tycker inte om/gillar inte choklad"
or "Jag är inte mycket för choklad" or similar expressions.


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## kilton

<this post and the following have been merged from a separate thread>

Hello!

 Trying to figure out what this sentence means. I'll include some surrounding sentences for context:

_En del vill att det ska bli förbjudet att prata i mobiltelefon när man kör bil._ _Men experterna på Väg- och transportforskningsinstitutet, VTI, säger att det är meningslöst med ett förbud.* Människor bryr sig ändå inte om ett sådant förbud.* Det visar nya undersökningar som forskarna har gjort.
_
 So, literally this seems to translate to something like "People don't yet care about/for such a ban". But it seems to me it must mean more than this. Does it (somehow) mean that people wouldn't obey the ban? (Which the use of_ meningslöst_ would seem to imply.) Or that people don't want the ban? Or something else?

Thanks.


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## AutumnOwl

kilton said:


> _*Människor bryr sig ändå inte om ett sådant förbud.* _
> 
> "People don't yet care about/for such a ban".


It seems to me as you have translated _ändå _with _yet_, but yet is _ännu _in Swedish. _Ändå_ here is _still_, "People would still not care about such a ban", meaning even if there was a ban people would not obey it, as they don't see the danger in using cell phones during driving.


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## kilton

Thanks AutumnOwl. So it appears to be a difference in how "_don't care about_" and "_bryr sig inte_" are used. In English we wouldn't use "_wouldn't care about_" in this context -- we would instead use something like "_wouldn't obey_".


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## AutumnOwl

For me (and probably many other Swedes) it would sound odd to use _obey = lyda_ when it comes to for example rules, I would use _följa = follow_ instead. I would use_ lyda_ when it comes to what dogs should do (obedience classes) and perhaps God, but it's more common to hear _följa Guds bud_ instead of _lyda Guds bud_.


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## Lugubert

sakvaka said:


> "bry sig om"





kilton said:


> "_bryr sig inte_"



To my old ears, "Jag bryr mig inte" sounds horrible. I grew up mostly in western Sweden, and "BRy de'tte!" ("Bry dig inte" with a trilled, emphatic R) was a way of rudely but unmistakably telling another kid not to volunteer further comments but shut up or else...

The version without "om" is spreading, but you'll never hear me omitting it. "Jag bryr mig om mitt språk." (sentence stress on _om_).


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## hanne

AutumnOwl said:


> For me (and probably many other Swedes) it would sound odd to use _obey = lyda_ when it comes to for example rules, I would use _följa = follow_ instead. I would use_ lyda_ when it comes to what dogs should do (obedience classes) and perhaps God, but it's more common to hear _följa Guds bud_ instead of _lyda Guds bud_.


In this case, it wasn't about a rule, but about a ban, so you wouldn't use följa or lyda for that. What then? (in Danish I'd probably say "overholde", which I might well translate as "obey")

Lugubert, I haven't seen anyone using "bry sig" without "om" in this thread, kilton had "bryr sig ändå inte om". You're not suggesting to put "om" in any other position than after "ändå inte", right?


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## Lugubert

hanne said:


> Lugubert, I haven't seen anyone using "bry sig" without "om" in this thread, kilton had "bryr sig ändå inte om". You're not suggesting to put "om" in any other position than after "ändå inte", right?





kilton said:


> "_bryr sig inte_"





			
				hanne said:
			
		

> You're not suggesting to put "om" in any other position than after "ändå inte", right?



No, that's where it belongs.


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