# Swedish: ...va?



## okcomter

Hi,

I heard from time to time people adding 'va?' at the end of sentences.
I don't remember exact contexts but it's something like
"There must be some words you don't understand, va?"
"He's from Russia, va?" 

Is va(vad) something similar to 'eller hur'?
Totally clueless.

Thanx!!


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## Tjahzi

You have come across an interrogative particle! Particles, in general, are rare in Swedish and almost non-existent in writing. Particles tend to vary greatly between dialects and sociolects, but _va_ could be said to be almost universal (tho I can't be sure about that considering they are not used in writing. What's your location?). 

Given the fact that your a Korean speaker, I'm assume you are familiar with the usage of interrogative particles.


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## okcomter

thanks. 

but since I'm not familiar to linguistic terminology although I could be familiar to interrogative particle, could you tell me what exactly the va
means in those two exemples??

I mean it for me only sounds nothing more than
"He's from Russia, what?"

and I get so confused because of the 'what?!' efter a statement.

So if one says "There must be some new words for you , va?"
does it mean "There must be some new words for you , right?" ?


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## Tjahzi

okcomter said:


> So if one says "There must be some new words for you , va?"
> does it mean "There must be some new words for you , right?" ?



Yes, very much so. Normally, there are two ways to denote a question. One can change the word order (_Var filmen bra? Den var__ bra.)_ _(Was the movie good? It was good.)_, which is standard in writing. 
In spoken language, one also normally changes the intonation (in addition to changing the word order). However, it's possible to just change the intonation as well (for certain phrases, dialects, contexts etc). Hence, a phrase such as _Du hade trevligt i helgen? (You had a nice weekend?)_ is definitely a question, if delivered with the right intonation. And finally, another option is to add these interrogative particles (of which _va_ is the most universal and popular) which allows you to keep both the intonation and word order intact. I would say that this option is most popular among youths and in informal conversations. But then again, the use of particles vary considerably between dialects (a group of speakers of certain area) as well as sociolects (a group of speakers of a certain age or social class).

Out of curiosity, do you know the dialect of the people you have spoken with?

Feel free to ask if something appears unclear.


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## okcomter

Thanks again. 

Although I must have heard va from many different people,
i remember two people for sure. 
One was a man from Sundsvall,
the other was a man from Stockholm.
Both are in their 50's... (They don't know each other)


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## JohanIII

Hope I'm not confusing things now, but there's also a misuse of va.

I remember from some decades ago (my youth) that people could add ", va." at the end of _every_ sentence, for example when telling a story. In this case it was never an indicator of an interrogative.

This was soon recognised as bad language and weeded out growing up, but just perhaps you could lapse into this behaviour just for a sentence or two, if you indulged in it before.


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## argentina84

Här i Göteborg har jag bara hört "Va?" och "Eller Hur?" från mina (Invandrare) klasskamrater och från tonåringar.


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## Tjahzi

Jag kanske överdrev de interrogativa partiklarnas variation. Även om det säkert förekommer regionala varianter, jag tänker särskilt på förortsslang. Det verkar dock som om _va_ är etablerad i den talade "standardsvenskan".


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## gvergara

Finns det skillnader mellan _eller hur _och _va_, förresten? Voilà två satser som jag har funnit.

__ Du är inte svensk, *va*?_

__ A: Jag kommer från Bradfor_
_  B: Men nu bor du i Stockholm, *eller hur*?_

Tack så myckett,
Gonzalo* (Våra svar på engelska, tack)*


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## Tjahzi

Nej, inte i betydelse. Dock skulle jag säga att _va_ generellt sett är vanligare och mer informell. Detta kan dock också variera beroende på socio-/krono-/dialekt.

I'm unsure of how exactly to interpret your _red_ phrase so here's a more or less literal translation of the above comment:

No, not in meaning. However, I'd say that _va _is more common and less formal, generally speaking. This, too, depends on the socio-/chrono-/dialect.


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## Muzze

gvergara said:


> Finns det skillnader mellan _eller hur _och _va_, förresten? Voilà två satser som jag har funnit.
> 
> __ Du är inte svensk, *va*?_
> 
> __ A: Jag kommer från Bradfor_
> _  B: Men nu bor du i Stockholm, *eller hur*?_
> 
> Tack så myckett,
> Gonzalo* (Våra svar på engelska, tack)*



_Du är inte svensk, *va*?_ (Du är väl inte svensk?) The one who asks thinks he knows or has a feeling that the person isn´t from sweden.

_Men nu bor du i Stockholm, *eller hur*? same concept as _the phrase above.


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## Muzze

okcomter said:


> Hi,
> 
> I heard from time to time people adding 'va?' at the end of sentences.
> I don't remember exact contexts but it's something like
> "There must be some words you don't understand, va?"
> "He's from Russia, va?"
> 
> Is va(vad) something similar to 'eller hur'?
> Totally clueless.
> 
> Thanx!!



Normally you say "va" like you say "what (did you say)" in english. 

"There must be some words you don't understand, va?" The usage of "va" n this sentence is strange to me.

He's from Russia, va?"  The speaker has a feeling or think that the person is from russia but he is not 100% sure.


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## pettisson

_"__Så kan man inte göra, va?"_
= _"You can't do that, right?"_

Almost like _eller hur_


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## Tjahzi

Indeed, they are rather synonymous.


Tjahzi said:


> No, not in meaning. However, I'd say that _va _is more common and less formal, generally speaking. This, too, depends on the socio-/chrono-/dialect.


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## Lugubert

okcomter said:


> "There must be some words you don't understand, va?"
> "He's from Russia, va?"



"There must be some words you don't understand, aren't there?"
"He's from Russia, isn't he?"



			
				pettisson said:
			
		

> _Så kan man inte göra, va?"_
> = _"You can't do that, right?"_
> 
> Almost like _eller hur_



Excellent.

Several other discourse markers might be similarly used for translation, like, depending on context, "huh?", "eh?", "what?"


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