Repeat questions

Level 5

Repeat a key word from someone's statement with a questioning tone to show surprise or disbelief.

How It Works

Echo questions are a common feature of conversational Swedish used to react to a statement. They serve several purposes:

  • Expressing Surprise or Disbelief: You repeat the part that surprises you.
  • Asking for Confirmation: You might have heard what was said but want to double-check.
  • Requesting Clarification: If you didn't quite catch a specific word, you can repeat it as a question.

Structure
In the short pattern taught here, repeat a word or phrase with questioning delivery. Rising pitch is possible, but Swedish questions do not require one fixed final pitch contour. A fragment has no full clause word-order pattern to rearrange. Ordinary yes/no questions usually have verb-first order; V2 is not a general rule for all question types.

Examples of what can be echoed:

  • A noun: "Jag har köpt en hund." → "En hund?"
  • A verb: "De ska skilja sig." → "Skilja sig?"
  • An adjective: "Testet var extremt svårt." → "Extremt svårt?"
  • An adverb/place: "Nycklarna ligger där borta." → "Där borta?"
  • A number: "Biljetterna kostar tvåtusen kronor." → "Tvåtusen?"

This pattern is almost exclusively used in spoken language and informal writing that mimics speech.

A question itself can also be echoed: Kommer du? — Om jag kommer? (Are you coming? — Am I coming?). The change from du to jag follows the change of speaker. Such a response may seek clarification, express surprise, or give the respondent time to think. The short noun-phrase responses above are only one part of this broader conversational family.

Examples (4)

  1. A: Jag ska flytta till Kiruna. B: Till Kiruna?

    A: I'm going to move to Kiruna. B: To Kiruna?

    Word by Word: A: I shall move to Kiruna. B: To Kiruna?

    Speaker B repeats the surprising destination, "Kiruna", to express surprise and ask for confirmation.

  2. A: Min syster vann en miljon kronor på lotto. B: En miljon?

    A: My sister won a million kronor on the lottery. B: A million?

    Word by Word: A: My sister won a million kronor on lotto. B: A million?

    B echoes the amount, "en miljon", to show disbelief.

  3. A: Chefen sa upp sig i morse. B: Sa upp sig?

    A: The boss quit this morning. B: Quit?

    Word by Word: A: The boss resigned this morning. B: Resigned?

    Here, the verb phrase "sa upp sig" is repeated to question the surprising action.

  4. A: Vi måste måla hela huset lila. B: Lila?

    A: We have to paint the whole house purple. B: Purple?

    Word by Word: A: We must paint whole the-house purple. B: Purple?

    The adjective "lila" is echoed to express surprise or perhaps dismay at the color choice.

Common Mistakes

  • Changing a repeated en-noun to the wrong indefinite article.

    A: Jag såg en varg i skogen. B: Ett varg?
    A: Jag såg en varg i skogen. B: En varg?

    Repeating only a noun phrase does not remove its gender pattern: en varg. A full question such as Såg du en varg? is also correct and can express surprise or seek confirmation; it must not be classified as an error for being full-length.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Repeat questionsLevel 5

Learn This First

To learn echo questions, a learner must first understand how standard questions are formed in Swedish, including both yes/no structures and the use of interrogative pronouns. Additionally, since echo questions often use the same word order as the original utterance but change the pitch, understanding Swedish question intonation is essential for distinguishing them from simple repetitions.