Playground and Youth Slang
How Swedish children and teenagers actually talk to each other.
How kids actually talk about friendship, online and off: the social units (bästis, gäng, hänga), the verdict words (najs, grymt, kass, cringe), the conflict vocabulary (taskig, frysa ut, tigandet), the digital layer where it all continues (gruppchatt, bli utkastad, blocka, ghosta, skärmdumpen that can't be taken back) — and the hopeful last run: kuratorn, det är modigt faktiskt, hitta sitt gäng. Det tar tid, men det händer.
- 1
en kompis
a mate
Tip: neutral-casual, all ages
- 2
en bästis
a best friend
Tip: casual; children's word
- 3
ett gäng
a gang of friends
Tip: casual, neutral
- 4
hänga
to hang out
Tip: youth, casual
- 5
hänga hemma hos någon
to hang out at someone's
Tip: youth, casual
- 6
leka
to play
Tip: neutral; used up to about ten
- 7
chilla
to chill
Tip: youth, casual
- 8
najs
cool
Tip: youth, casual; from English 'nice'
- 9
grymt
awesome
Tip: casual
- 10
kass
rubbish
Tip: casual
- 11
trist
boring
Tip: casual
- 12
pinsamt
embarrassing
Tip: casual, very frequent
- 13
cringe
cringe
Tip: youth; English loan, used as is
- 14
konstig
weird
Tip: neutral-casual
- 15
elak
mean
Tip: neutral; the word children use
- 16
taskig
nasty
Tip: casual; 'det var taskigt gjort'
- 17
orättvist
unfair
Tip: neutral; the most-used word at that age
- 18
en skvallerbytta
a snitch
Tip: casual, disapproving; children's word
- 19
skvallra
to tell on someone
Tip: casual
- 20
ställa upp för någon
to stand up for someone
Tip: neutral-casual
- 21
hålla med någon
to take someone's side
Tip: casual
- 22
stänga ute någon
to leave someone out
Tip: neutral
- 23
frysa ut någon
to ignore someone
Tip: casual; lit. 'freeze someone out'
- 24
tigandet
the silent treatment
Tip: neutral; the cruellest version
- 25
bli sams
to make up
Tip: neutral-casual
- 26
säga förlåt
to say sorry
Tip: neutral
- 27
mena det
to mean it
Tip: casual; the important part
- 28
ett rykte
a rumour
Tip: neutral
- 29
sprida ett rykte
to spread a rumour
Tip: neutral
- 30
en gruppchatt
a group chat
Tip: neutral-casual
- 31
bli tillagd
to be added
Tip: casual
- 32
bli utkastad
to be removed
Tip: casual
- 33
blocka någon
to block someone
Tip: youth, casual
- 34
avfölja
to unfollow
Tip: youth, casual
- 35
ghosta
to ghost someone
Tip: youth, casual; English loan
- 36
vara uppkopplad
to be online
Tip: neutral
- 37
en skärmdump
a screenshot
Tip: neutral-casual
- 38
skicka vidare
to send it on
Tip: casual
- 39
ångra sig
to regret it
Tip: neutral
- 40
radera
to delete it
Tip: neutral; and it's still out there
- 41
en rastvärd
a break-time supervisor
Tip: neutral; the adult in the yard
- 42
kuratorn
a school counsellor
Tip: neutral; who you can talk to
- 43
gå och prata med hen
to go and talk to them
Tip: neutral-casual
- 44
det är modigt, faktiskt
that's brave, actually
Tip: casual
- 45
en nystart
a fresh start
Tip: neutral
- 46
en ny klass
a new class
Tip: neutral
- 47
en ny förening
a new club
Tip: neutral
- 48
hitta sitt gäng
to find your people
Tip: casual
- 49
det tar tid
it takes time
Tip: casual
- 50
men det händer
but it happens
Tip: casual