Punctuation: basics (Swedish)

Michael is writing a text to Lina. hej Lina vill du äta lunch med mig imorgon det jag tycker mest om i livet är att vara med dig äta kaniner och vara i naturen så varför inte äta lunch i parken imorgon vi ses Michael Michael... have you forgotten something? Huh? Full stops, commas, and so on?

But those are just tiny dots. Are they important? Yes, they can actually be very important. When people are speaking, we mostly hear which words belong together, depending on how those words are said, and on which words are stressed: intonation. In text, this can be harder to know.

So there are small signs, for example commas and full stops: punctuation marks. Punctuation helps us understand which words belong together, where a sentence starts and ends, or whether it’s a question. Michael is asking a question. For this, you usually add a question mark at the end. Vill du äta lunch med mig imorgon?

The question mark shows that this is a question. At the end of a sentence that isn’t a question, there’s almost always a full stop. It shows the reader that the sentence is finished. After a full stop, the next sentence starts with a capital letter, so that the reader understands that a new sentence is beginning. A comma shows which parts of a sentence do belong together, and which do not belong together.

You could say that commas show where there’s a slight pause, such as between two clauses: Om du vill, kan jag ta med läsk. They can separate the different items in a list: Jag tar med mig saft, mackor, ost, och frukt. They can also be used to add brief descriptions or information: Jag älskar Fluffy, min kanin. Or after a name, when addressing someone, or after words like yes or no: Lina, vill du äta lunch med mig? Ja, gärna!

There are more ways of using commas. It’s our most common punctuation mark. A colon can be used to introduce an example: Här är ett exempel: det här. or sometimes, what someone says: Lina sade: “Men om det regnar då?” A colon can also introduce a list: Ta med: picknickkorg, filt, kniv, och solkräm. There is a slightly unusual sign that you can use when neither comma, nor full stop feels right: a semicolon.

Semicolons are used between clauses that could be independent sentences, but belong together: Lina ville verkligen träffa Michael; hon såg fram emot söndagen. Like commas, semicolons can also be used to separate items on a list. So… now we’ve learnt some punctuation marks. Let’s punctuate Michael’s message: commas… colon… full stop… question marks… Let’s read it again! Hej Lina, vill du äta lunch med mig imorgon?

Det jag tycker mest om i livet är att vara med dig, äta kaniner, och vara i naturen. Så varför inte äta lunch i parken imorgon? Vi ses! Michael Er, oh... Sometimes a missing comma can make a sentence mean something completely different.

The reader could misunderstand. äta kaniner, och vara i naturen. Eating rabbits? But... Michael is vegetarian! Oops...

that was a fairly important comma. Äta… kaniner och vara i naturen. There. There are more punctuation marks. One is used instead of a full stop, for extra power, for example after an order, or an exclamation. Exclamation mark.

Do you want to have lunch with Michael, Lina? YES!