# Swedish: Morfar,farfar



## PABLO DE SOTO

I have read that grandfather is farfar or morfar. Ok, that's easy but I wonder if there is any colloquial way to call your grandfather like grandpa in English or Opa in German.
Do children say, Hej, farfar?


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## jonquiliser

At least here (that is, Finland), you could say faffa, fafa (both short vowels, the stress on the first), faffen...

And for morfar the same; moffa, mofa, moffen...

That's how the progenitors of my progenitors were addressed  And as you probably know already, farfar is the father of your father, and morfar is the father of your mother


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## María Madrid

Yes, those are very short words in any case, so there's hardly any need to find a shorter one.

And they also say moster/faster morbror/farbror... although now it's a lot more common to call them by their names. For instance, my niece decided NOT to call me farster, and call me María instead, but my brother, when he was a child always called his aunt "faster". Saludos,


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## jonquiliser

María Madrid said:


> morster/farster



Yes, "morbror/farbror/moster/faster" aren't used that often, mainly when you describe your relation to that person, just to point out that s/he is your aunt or uncle. But it's not like in Spanish that you use both name and "title". Just the name, really.


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## Kiimy

PABLO DE SOTO said:


> I have read that grandfather is farfar or morfar. Ok, that's easy but I wonder if there is any colloquial way to call your grandfather like grandpa in English or Opa in German.
> Do children say, Hej, farfar?


 
aa, man säger så.
det finns inte förtkortningar som de har i USA som "grandpa" ..

iaf, de är vad jag har hört ..


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## jonquiliser

Kiimy said:


> aa, man säger så.
> det finns inte förtkortningar som de har i USA som "grandpa" ..
> 
> iaf, de är vad jag har hört ..



_Joho_, finns det visst det  Om du tittar lite längre upp så har jag nämnt några.

Och välkommen till forumet, förresten


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## Kiimy

jaha, förlåt då 
pinsamt 
tack förresten..


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## jonquiliser

Det är lugnt, Kiimy  

Spännande förresten med nån från Filippinerna som lär sig/pratar svenska!


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## Fran55on

Hi!

I'm from the central part of Sweden (Stockholm and Västernorrland) and I only heard once a child saying "moffa" to her grandfather. 

It's true "moffa" exists, but normally children says just as you wrote PAblo de Soto: "Hej Farfar!" (if the child do not have any pronunciation difficulties at an early age, of course).

I'm new at this Forum, it's very exciting to participate.

Anna


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## Sepia

Would also depend on the grandfahter being the dad of the childs father or mother, wouldn't it? And not all Swedes pronounce the "r" at the end of a syllable so that you really recognize an "r".


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## Nander

I've always called my own grandparents "mommo/mofa/famo/fafa", but everyone else's "mormor/morfar/farmor/farfar". Don't really know why...


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## Fran55on

I believe it is more common with "mommo/mofa/famo/fafa" in the south of Sweden? Are you from the south Nander?

Sepia, you are right about the week "r"-pronunciation. Would you (or someone) know how to write it phonetically?


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## Fran55on

weak.. sorry..


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## jonquiliser

Nander said:


> I've always called my own grandparents "mommo/mofa/famo/fafa", but everyone else's "mormor/morfar/farmor/farfar". Don't really know why...



Probably because they are more 'personal' - people don't usually call other people's parents 'mamsen' or 'papsen' either, even if they'd happen to call their own like that


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## Nander

Fran55on said:


> I believe it is more common with "mommo/mofa/famo/fafa" in the south of Sweden? Are you from the south Nander?



Well, I'm from Sörmland so not from the most southern parts (Skåne etc.). However, my parents are from Finland so I think that might be the reason, especially considering what Jonqualiser said.

I also think he is right about them being more personal than "mormor... etc."


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## jonquiliser

Nander said:


> Well, I'm from Sörmland so not from the most southern parts (Skåne etc.). However, my parents are from Finland so I think that might be the reason, especially considering what Jonqualiser said.



Åhå... ! So seems then it's only around here we use the variations. Strange, though, it seems almost inevitable that what little kids at least will say until they can use all consonants is 'mommo', 'fammo' etc.. :comfused:


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## Lugubert

jonquiliser said:


> Åhå... ! So seems then it's only around here we use the variations. Strange, though, it seems almost inevitable that what little kids at least will say until they can use all consonants is 'mommo', 'fammo' etc.. :comfused:


There might very well be a sociology aspect here as well. My experience, from early on, is that my mother (father, hailing from Skåne, was a sea-captain, seldom at home) only used correct adult standard Swedish to me - no baby talk _ever_. I suppose that I pronounced _mommo_, _fammo_ etc. but certainly no longer than until I managed the '_r_'. On reading through, I now have to add that those variants probably were [mòmo:, fàmo:] (` = accent 2). I must have heard the southern [mo'mo'] etc. (where the ' is supposed to mean a _very_ faint sound like IPA inverted small capital R, and the accent fairly even), but interpreted it as _mormor_ anyway.


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