# Swedish: topped with pumpkin seeds



## Moosmutzie

Hi all,

I have to translate the phrase "  topped with pumpkin seeds" into Swedish and I'm unsure if it has to be "  toppat med pumpafrön" or " toppat med pumpafrö".
I'm inclined to use the first version but I'm not quite sure...
What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions!

Moosmutzie

P.S.: we are talking about a bread here...


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## Delfinen

I think you are right with "toppat med pumpafrön". Depends maybe on what it is, an icecreme or a warm dish. With the dish you could say "dekorerad med pumpafrön" .


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## Södertjej

Det skulle kunna vara "toppad" också. Det beror på vad det handlar om. *En* bulle? *En *bakelse? *En *glass? Eller *ett *bröd?


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## Moosmutzie

Hello Delfinen and Södertjej!

Thanks for your comments. The product we are talking about is a bread. But the whole phrase would be "Bakeryproduct, topped with pumpkin seeds".
I don't quite understand which difference the "n" at the end of the word makes. Do you think that "bageriprodukt,   toppat med pumpafrö" would be completely wrong? Does it necessarily have to be " toppat med pumpafrön"?

Thanks in advance!


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## Södertjej

*En *produkt. Toppa*d*.


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## Wilma_Sweden

I hate 'toppad' and I think it's pure Swenglish. I wish I could offer a better solution, but I can't. In my local Co-op, they sell "bullar med vallmofrön", i.e. buns topped with poppy seeds, and it is perfectly understandable even before I can see them - everybody knows that poppy seeds come on top, not in the dough itself. 

I know the translation probably requires something as exact as 'topped', and then 'med' might be too 'fuzzy'. Others might disagree with me, but 'toppad' does make me cringe. Sorry.


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## Lars H

Moosmutzie said:


> Hello Delfinen and Södertjej!
> 
> Thanks for your comments. The product we are talking about is a bread. But the whole phrase would be "Bakeryproduct, topped with pumpkin seeds".
> I don't quite understand which difference the "n" at the end of the word makes. Do you think that "bageriprodukt,   toppat med pumpafrö" would be completely wrong? Does it necessarily have to be " toppat med pumpafrön"?
> 
> Thanks in advance!



Hej

There are both plural and singular forms in your sentence. 
For starters. Since it is only one product "bageriprodukt" - in reale genus singular, the form "toppad" is correct as earlier pointed out in this thread. No other form works.

But if you had replaced the "bageriprodukt" with "bröd", then proper Swedish would be "Bröd toppat med pumpafrön", since "bröd" is of the genus neutrum (En bageriprodukt as opposed to ett bröd).

For the second part of your sentence, hopefully the seeds are in plural. This should be shown by the letter "n". "Pumpafrö" is one tiny little seed where as "pumpafrön" are two seeds or more... 

About the word "toppad". I think (but I am not sure) that it is a late import from English, an anglicism. It is a rather good one as I see it , since "topp" is an old word in Swedish, and any Swedish speaking person can instantly and intuitively understand the meaning of the word.
The synonyms that I can think of (beströdd, dekorerad, garnerad) are not in any way better. Sometimes anglicisms really add value to the language.

So my recommendation is "Bageriprodukt, toppad med pumpafrön".


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## Wilma_Sweden

Lars H said:


> The synonyms that I can think of (beströdd, dekorerad, garnerad) are not in any way better. Sometimes anglicisms really add value to the language.
> 
> So my recommendation is "Bageriprodukt, toppad med pumpafrön".


I believe 'garnerad med...' is a perfectly adequate and correct Swedish equivalent for culinary use. Thus, I would recommend bageriprodukt garnerad med pumpafrön. 

The verb toppa does exist already in Swedish, usually meaning something that is at the top, such as ABBA toppade hitlistorna på 70-talet. I'm a bit old-fashioned and believe that in a formal setting such as a product description, garnerad would be preferable.


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## Södertjej

I prefer beströdd. Garnerad implies "decoration" and maybe the seeds don't look so nice, it's more for the sake of taste. Besides, if you can "toppa en lista", why can't seeds "toppa en bulle"? The meaning is basically the same, imo.


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## Lars H

Hej igen!



Södertjej said:


> I prefer beströdd. Garnerad implies "decoration" and maybe the seeds don't look so nice, it's more for the sake of taste. Besides, if you can "toppa en lista", why can't seeds "toppa en bulle"? The meaning is basically the same, imo.



After I have given this issue a second thought, I must agree with Södertjej - and correct myself. 

Both "dekorera" and "garnera" implies some sort of visual effect, just as "smaksätta" would describe a taste related effect.

"Beströdd" does not imply anything. It only tells the reader that the seeds at some point have been poured on top of the bakery product. So "Beströdd" is the only true synonyme to "toppad" of the three previous mentioned.


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## Wilma_Sweden

Södertjej said:


> Besides, if you can "toppa en lista", why can't seeds "toppa en bulle"? The meaning is basically the same, imo.


In my humble opinion, toppa en lista is an abstract concept, while a bun with seed topping is definitely something concrete.

The other problem is the passive/active usage.
ABBA toppade listan. 
Listan toppades *av* ABBA. 
Fröna toppade bullen. 
Bullen var toppad [*av* någon] *med* sesamfrön. 

What I'm trying to show is the agent/patient relationships, which are not the same, and the use of different prepositions reveal that.



Lars H said:


> Both "dekorera" and "garnera" implies some sort of  visual effect, just as "smaksätta" would describe a taste related  effect.


I thought the whole point of the seed topping was to add a visual effect to an otherwise boring-looking bun?

In any case, while I reluctantly accept bullar toppade med... in colloquial spoken language, I don't think it's formal enough for a product description.


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## Södertjej

Wilma_Sweden said:


> In my humble opinion, toppa en lista is an abstract concept, while a bun with seed topping is definitely something concrete.
> 
> The other problem is the passive/active usage.
> ABBA toppade listan.
> Listan toppades *av* ABBA.
> Fröna toppade bullen.
> Bullen var toppad [*av* någon] *med* sesamfrön.


Point taken. I see it's not so much because of the abstract concept, but because of the usage

Listan toppades av Abba
Bullen toppades med frön.

Inte riktigt samma sak.


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