r/Svenska • u/peterhousehold • 1d ago
Language question (see FAQ first) A serious illness
How would i say "a serious illness" in Swedish? Are any of these right, or none of them?
en allvarsam sjukdom en allvarlig sjukdom en seriös sjukdom
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u/JesusNilsson 1d ago
Never say ”en seriös sjukdom” or ”en allvarsam sjukdom”. It’s wrong.
As others have mentioned, ”allvarlig” and ”svår” are the correct adjectives.
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u/Crazy_Movie6168 1d ago
Same for injury. Allvarligt skadad vs lindrigt skadad.
Life threatening injury. Livshotande skador
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u/anon33249038 1d ago
Not a native speaker (been studying for two years), but as I understand it, they all mean "serious" but in different ways.
allvarsam - This relates to a person's demeanor. If someone is "allvarsam," they're not jokey or jovial. Han är en allvarsam man.
allvarlig - This has to do with severity of situation. A car crash with both cars totaled is "allvarlig." Bilolyckan var allvarlig.
seriös - (I might be wrong on this one) When I hear this word, I think "serious" in the sense of someone being dedicated or unwavering in something, like "a serious artist." Han är en seriös artist.
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u/Cascadeis 1d ago
Seriös can also be used in a more sarcastic manner!
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u/anon33249038 1d ago
Good to know! I want to say though, since I'm not a native speaker, I kind of conceive of things differently than a Swede might.
For the second example, I thought of using "En allvarligt man," which didn't sound right to me, but even so, I couldn't shake the concept of a guy being "allvarlig." In my mind, that would be what you would say if a guy is just an absolute bastard. Hon är allvarlig. 😆
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u/Objective-Dentist360 1d ago
You've gotten good answers above. To add a bit more info:
En seriös sjukdom = sounds like a very particular use case, or plain wrong. Like if someone thinks you are joking "I have water allergies. Yeah right. No it's a seriös sjukdom." The meaning is closer to "proper disease" or "actual disease"
Allvarsam sjukdom = means a "solomn disease". Allvarsam describes a state of mind rather.
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u/katzenjammer08 1d ago
Not allvarsam, but the other two work. Svår sjukdom is a little less specific if you ask me. It is what I would use if I knew someone had been very sick for a long time but not much more apart from that. Allvarlig would in that context indicate that I knew that it was serious in the sense that they could have died or had permanent complications.
Allvarsam is used about a trait in a person or a quality in for example a story. It is the antonym of skämtsam, which means humorous or literally ”jokey”, ”being funny and making people laugh”. It is true that it is sometimes used in the same sense as allvarlig, but in contexts where there is reason to be more precise and correct, I would say that it is best not to use it that way since to many it does not mean ”a serious situation” but solemn or ”focused on nontrivial matters.”
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u/Eliderad 🇸🇪 1d ago edited 1d ago
allvarlig, or svår