# Swedish: What happened to you?



## bjoleniacz

Hi,
I am watching the movie Män some hatar kvinnor (the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and I am trying to figure out what the character Mikael Blomkvist says at 27:40.  He says "Du var en vacker barnvakt" and then the subtitle says "What happened to you?"  But he says something that sounds like "Var var det med u?"  I can't understand what he is saying.  Does anyone know?

Thanks,
bjoleniacz


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## AutumnOwl

I haven't seen the film, but it could be _"Vad var det med dig?"_ - "What was it with you?" if translated word for word, meaning "What happened to you", it can for example be used if someone has been home sick and a friend wants to know why, or "Vad är det med dig" (What is it with you) can be asked if someone is in a bad mood and you want to know what is going on.


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## bjoleniacz

AutumnOwl said:


> I haven't seen the film, but it could be _"Vad var det med dig?"_ - "What was it with you?" if translated word for word, meaning "What happened to you", it can for example be used if someone has been home sick and a friend wants to know why, or "Vad är det med dig" (What is it with you) can be asked if someone is in a bad mood and you want to know what is going on.



Thank you!  Can "dig" ever be pronounced "do" or "då" in lazy speech?


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## AutumnOwl

The most common way to pronounce "dig" is "dej", but sometimes in spoken Swedish people use "du" instead of "dig", _"vad var det med du"_


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## MattiasNYC

bjoleniacz,

I just checked it out and he actually says "Vad har du varit med om?", which when slurred sounds like "Vaharu varimeom?" The translation is pretty accurate if you take into account what an English speaker would actually say; "What happened to you". I think an arguably closer translation would be "What have you experienced?". In other words "vara med om" is to experience something, or to participate in something, which of course is different from something happening to someone.. though I think it's splitting hairs. 

In any case, it's "Vad har du varit med om?"

If you haven't yet seen the American version btw I highly recommend you do, and compare the tone of the two, especially considering the difference between the English and Swedish titles. To me the difference between the titles actually reflect a slight difference in tone, in my humble opinion.

PS: If anyone wants to hear this phrase Netflix currently only has the "extended" version, and it occurs at roughly 35 minutes.


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## bjoleniacz

MattiasNYC said:


> bjoleniacz,
> 
> I just checked it out and he actually says "Vad har du varit med om?", which when slurred sounds like "Vaharu varimeom?" The translation is pretty accurate if you take into account what an English speaker would actually say; "What happened to you". I think an arguably closer translation would be "What have you experienced?". In other words "vara med om" is to experience something, or to participate in something, which of course is different from something happening to someone.. though I think it's splitting hairs.
> 
> In any case, it's "Vad har du varit med om?"



Thanks, MattiasNYC!  The mystery is solved.


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## amiramir

For 'what happened to you?', could you say: Vad hände med dig? Or is that nonesense? Thanks.


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## MattiasNYC

hmmmm.....  I think you'd need a bit more context actually. But, maybe yes. 

Any other Swedes?...


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## amiramir

Thanks, Mattias.


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