False friends

biko

When learning a foreign language, you might encounter a word that looks like a word you know from your native language, but it has a completely different meaning.
These two words are "false friends" or "false cognates".

Some examples:
pige (Danish) - girl
piga (Swedish) - maid

dreng (Danish) - boy
dräng (Swedish) - farm labourer

karl (Danish) - farm labourer
karl (Swedish) - man

grine (Danish) - laugh
grine (Norwegian) - cry

fart (Swedish) - velocity
fart (English) - flatulence

vrist (Swedish) - ankle
wrist (English) - wrist

Lady Chuckles

... and here's three "rude" ones :pac:

prick (Swedish) - dot
kock (Swedish) - chef
slut (Swedish) - end

drdeadlift

Lady Chuckles wrote: »

... and here's three "rude" ones :pac:

prick (Swedish) - dot
kock (Swedish) - chef
slut (Swedish) - end

Isnt slut in the Norwegian language too?

Coeurdepirate

Bra (Swedish) - Good
Bra (English) - undergarment for ladies :rolleyes:

Att kissa - to pee

It's not the fart that kills, it's the smäll.
It's not the speed that kills, it's the impact.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Moi (French) - Me.

Moi (Finnish) - Hi.

:pac:

hognef

drdeadlift wrote: »

Lady Chuckles wrote: »

... and here's three "rude" ones :pac:

prick (Swedish) - dot
kock (Swedish) - chef
slut (Swedish) - end

Isnt slut in the Norwegian language too?

All of the above are in the Norwegian language too, with slightly different spellings:

Prikk
Kokk
Slutt

Tabnabs

Oh, oh, I finally thought of one.... :pac:

skitt (Norwegian) - dirt (NB the k is pronounced as ch)

as in;

er du skitten?

wispyman

Finnish has some nice booby-traps waiting:

Minä nain sinua - I f*ck you
Minä nain sinut - I marry you

Though if you get married perhaps your then f*cked anyway

AnnaVanilla

hognef wrote: »

All of the above are in the Norwegian language too, with slightly different spellings:

Prikk
Kokk
Slutt

And in Danish

Prik
Kok
Slut

AnnaVanilla

Oh and this one:

Slapper af = relaxing

Tabnabs

Once you get into a certain frame of mind...

Titt (Norwegian) - glance

ta ein titt på noko

AnnaVanilla

Tabnabs wrote: »

Once you get into a certain frame of mind...

Titt (Norwegian) - glance

ta ein titt på noko

Hahaha forgot about that one! In DA "Tit ind" means to have a quick look inside/quick visit and you just reminded me of the bar "Tit Inn" in Copenhagen!

suomi

wispyman wrote: »

Finnish has some nice booby-traps waiting:

Minä nain sinua - I f*ck you
Minä nain sinut - I marry you

Though if you get married perhaps your then f*cked anyway

Yeah the word naida is a bit tricky, I'm Finnish but even I have to be careful when I use it.