All Scandinavian Languages: Jaså

    • Lemminkäinen

    Lemminkäinen

    Senior Member
    Oslo, Norway
    Norwegian (bokmål)
    It's a Norwegian word too, though it doesn't mean quite what it does in Swedish.
    There are many ways to use it, but some translations are "really?"/"is that so?" and "so".

    - Jaså, du sitter her og tenker, du?
    - So, you're sitting here thinking?

    - Visste du at vi har kjøpt en ny bil?
    - Jaså?
    - Did you know we've bought a new car?
    - Really?
     
    DrWatson

    DrWatson

    Senior Member
    Ostrobothnia Septentrionalis
    Finnish
    We use this word in Finnish too, (although Finnish is not a Scandinavian language) among other Swedish loans due to the big Swedish influence in the past. Here it's written jassoo, and is used much the same way as in Swedish (or Norwegian). I'll demonstrate with a similar example as Lemminkäinen.

    - Mepä ostimme eilen uuden auton. (= We bought a new car yesterday.)
    - Jassoo. (=Really?) (a Finnish alternative could be niinkö?, meaning "is that so?")

    Although in Finnish it's less interrogative, more like an affirmation that the addressee has heard and understood the message.
     
    Tjahzi

    Tjahzi

    Senior Member
    Umeå, Sweden
    Swedish (Göteborg)
    As a matter of fact, judging from the replies in this thread, I would say the Swedish meaning is next to identical to that of Danish/Norwegian....
     
    T

    timesofmist

    New Member
    Estonian
    DrWatson said:
    We use this word in Finnish too.

    - Mepä ostimme eilen uuden auton. (= We bought a new car yesterday.)
    - Jassoo. (=Really?) (a Finnish alternative could be niinkö?, meaning "is that so?")
    Click to expand...

    Second that. Like finnish, estonian isn't a germanic language, but even we here have a word here which does resemble the scandinavian prototype.

    When it's jaså in swedish and jassoo in finnish, our version would be ahsoo. Because of the pronounciation, most of the h letter goes missing in that specific word, so it's basically assoo.
    As for the meaning, then it really is the same as in finnish.

    At the same time, that's not really unordinary, because we have loads of words of scandinavian origin.. That's the case when living centuries under german and swedish cultural influences.
     
    María Madrid

    María Madrid

    Banned
    Madrid, Spain
    Spanish Spain
    Setwale_Charm said:
    Well, maybe as a request for confirmation: IS that so? Indeed?
    Click to expand...
    Yup, "oh, is it?" rather than "that's it". :)
    PS. I mean Swedish jaså!

    Not sure if this is too off topic, but I just loved Lemminkäinen example. You can't get more Scandinavian than that!
    Lemminkäinen said:
    Jaså, du sitter her og tenker, du?
    - So, you're sitting here thinking?
    Click to expand...
    There's a funny little book called Sweden, The Secret Files, by Colin Moon (Brit) and he says:

    Swedes have a tendency to state the obvious... If you meet someone you know while strolling in the countryside he'll say "Oh, so you're out walking". The temptation is to say "No, I'm playing the piano", but don't. Sarcasm doesn't go down too well.
     
    Tjahzi

    Tjahzi

    Senior Member
    Umeå, Sweden
    Swedish (Göteborg)
    Yes, to be a bit more exact, in Swedish, "jaså" is definatly used in a manner similar to that of Danish/Norwegian, as has been expressed above.

    However, given its sometimes rather dubious meaning, it can indeed be replaced by "that's it" or "that's right" in some contexts, but in general it indicates a combination of (sometimes) artifical surprise mixed with a standard confirmation.
     
    A

    Andreas_Jensen

    Senior Member
    Copenhagen, Nørrebro
    Danish
    Timesofmist >>> "When it's jaså in swedish and jassoo in finnish, our version would be ahsoo. Because of the pronounciation, most of the h letter goes missing in that specific word, so it's basically assoo."

    That sounds a lot like the German "Ach so!"... Could there be a connection? I'm not too proficient in German to really comment on the meaning of "Ach so" but I certainly seem to recall it to be utilized somewhat along the lines of "really?"

    Timesofmist >>> "At the same time, that's not really unordinary, because we have loads of words of scandinavian origin.. That's the case when living centuries under german and swedish cultural influences."

    What about Danish influence... Don't forget that Tallinn means "Danish city"... :D We also got our flag in Estonia... sniff

    Anyway...I'd really enjoy an example of sentence where "jaså" is used in the sense of "that's it!" I have a hard time imagining that...
     
    Wilma_Sweden

    Wilma_Sweden

    Senior Member
    Lund, Sweden
    Swedish (Scania)
    DrWatson said:
    We use this word in Finnish too
    Click to expand...

    Hi, may I seize the opportunity to have confirmed or denied a phrase I learned from my late husband who was English but worked for a few years in Finland as an ESL teacher. The phrase, as I remember it, was vainiin, va sillalajla (begging your pardon for spelling errors and memory loss), but the meaning of it was said to be a strong version of Jaså, like Jaså, på det viset? (indicating that the speaker had a Eureka moment).

    I'd be grateful if you could straighten this out for me, as I know no other Finnish speakers, and have no contact with the spirit world...

    /Wilma
     
    T

    timesofmist

    New Member
    Estonian
    Andreas_Jensen said:
    That sounds a lot like the German "Ach so!"... Could there be a connection? I'm not too proficient in German to really comment on the meaning of "Ach so" but I certainly seem to recall it to be utilized somewhat along the lines of "really?"
    Click to expand...

    Well, i suppose i'm less proficient that anyone in german, haha. But i guess you have made a point. The connection didn't come to my mind while making the post. Ach so is pretty much the same case as jassoo, ahsoo, jaså etc.

    Andreas_Jensen said:
    We also got our flag in Estonia... sniff
    Click to expand...

    Jep, that's Tallinn's ''coat of arms'' is basically Dannebrog. That's what i'd call a cultural influence : D
     
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