Swedish B1 Reading Practice: An Argument with a Neighbour
Disagreeing politely is a B1 skill. This text is full of the phrases Swedish uses to complain, concede and reach a compromise.
En grannhistoria
Sedan den nya grannen flyttade in ovanför sover Martina dåligt. Han gör inget elakt: han kommer hem sent, flyttar en stol, badar vid midnatt. Men huset är gammalt och golvet för vidare varenda ljud.
I två månader sa hon ingenting. Hon var rädd att han skulle ta illa upp. Sedan gick hon en kväll upp och knackade på.
Han öppnade, förvånad, med en tallrik i handen. Hon förklarade situationen och försökte hålla sig lugn. Han svarade att han aldrig hade tänkt på det, vilket kanske var sant.
De kom överens: ingen tvättmaskin efter tio, och Martina skulle säga till direkt om något störde, i stället för att vänta.
Även om ljudet inte har försvunnit helt sover Martina bättre. Hon tror att man hör ett ljud annorlunda när man vet vem det tillhör.
English translation
Since the new neighbour moved in upstairs, Martina has been sleeping badly. He does nothing malicious: he comes home late, moves a chair, takes a bath at midnight. But the building is old and the floor passes on every single sound.
For two months she said nothing. She was afraid he would take it badly. Then one evening she went up and knocked.
He opened, surprised, with a plate in his hand. She explained the situation and tried to stay calm. He answered that he had never thought about it, which was perhaps true.
They agreed: no washing machine after ten, and Martina would say something straight away if anything disturbed her, instead of waiting.
Even though the noise has not disappeared completely, Martina sleeps better. She thinks you hear a sound differently when you know who it belongs to.
Why this is B1
The text handles a social negotiation rather than a sequence of events, and it closes on an abstract thought. It uses subordinate clauses with shifted word order, concession with även om, and skulle in a reported agreement.
Grammar you will meet
- Sedan as a time conjunction: sedan den nya grannen flyttade in
- Word order in subordinate clauses: att han aldrig hade tänkt
- Concession: även om
- Skulle in a reported agreement: Martina skulle säga till
- Vilket referring to a whole clause
Words worth keeping
- en granne — a neighbour
- ta illa upp — to take offence
- komma överens — to reach an agreement
- även om — even though
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