# Swedish: Optimism är en lyckamagnet



## Svenska960

Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.      Optimism är en lyckamagnet. Om du stannar positiv, bra saker och personer kommer att bli del av ditt liv. How would you translate this american citation?


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## DerFrosch

Svenska960 said:


> Optimism är en lyck*o*magnet.



Almost correct, but in compound words, the "a" in _lycka _turns into an "o" (as in _lyckosam_, _lyckorus_). There are also a couple of words where it is simply left out (e.g. _lycksalig_, _lyckönska_), but for new, ad hoc compounds it's always _lycko-_.


Svenska960 said:


> Om du stannar positiv, bra saker och personer kommer att bli del av ditt liv.



The first part is literally "Om du förblir positiv" (_stanna _can't be used here), but we would hardly say that. Better:

_Så länge du är positiv kommer bra saker och bra personer att dras till dig. 
_


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## Svenska960

You are great!


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## DerFrosch

Well, I do my best. 

Concerning the word order, you may wonder why the inflected verb (_kommer_) is placed before "_bra saker och bra personer_" (the subject) in my sentence above. This is because "_Så länge du är positiv_" is a subordinate clause ("_Bra saker och bra personer kommer att dras till dig_" is the main clause). If we place a subordinate clause at the beginning of a sentence, it occupies the first position, which is relevant since the verb always occupies the second. In other words, it works similarly to an adverb:

_*Ibland *kommer bra saker och bra personer att dras till dig.
_
Thus, if we place the subordinate clause at the end (which is possible, although not so elegant in this case), the sentence looks like this:

_Bra saker och bra personer kommer att dras till dig, så länge du är positiv._


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## Svenska960

Thank you!! And what is the main difference beetween så länge and om? When should I use them?


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## AutumnOwl

_Så länge_ - as long as
_Om_ - if


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## Svenska960

So Så länge is  used to say that one thing can happen or be true only if another thing happens or is true, right? And if...?


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## AutumnOwl

_Så länge du är lycklig_ - as long as you stay happy (until you get unhappy/sad), good things and good people will be drawn to you. 
_Om du är lycklig_ - if, and only if, you are happy, good things and good people will be drawn to you


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## Svenska960

And why would a native swedish speaker rather use in this sentence Så länge and not om ?Thank you fpr your replay ☺☺


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## AutumnOwl

I can only answer for myself, and it's not really a question about language, but the "s_å länge (som) du är lycklig..."_ has a more positive impression than _"om du är lycklig..."_. The first implies to me that being happy accumulates more and more happiness, while the second, you have to make a conscious effort to be happy to have good things and people come to you, and if you fail being happy you will loose all you have gained.


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## DerFrosch

The reason I preferred the sentence with "_så länge_" to the one with "_om_" didn't actually have anything to do with "_om_", but rather with the phrase "stay positive", which is somewhat difficult to render in Swedish.


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## MattiasNYC

So, just a thought here: If we're not too literal about the original stating that good things happen _while _you are positive, and instead think of it as a recommendation to someone - as being inspirational in a sense, could we perhaps also write it in Swedish as such:

"Optimism är en lyckomagnet. _Var positiv _så kommer bra saker och bra personer att dras till dig."

Just to be clear, I'm not saying it is more accurate, just that perhaps it's a valid alternative depending on surrounding contexts.


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