Three days in a row it’s been 10ºC and sunny in Stockholm. Three days in a row all the Swedes I know have tittered in unison about the coming of daylight savings time. March 30 this year.But they reserve their widest smiles for when they tap me on the elbow and tell me, again, how wonderful those outdoor cafés will be… in May.

To better understand such ebullience at a mere turn in the weather, it helps to read a Swedish grammar exercise book. Exercise books in other languages deal with such innocuous topics as the color of one’s pencil. My exercise book has taken it upon itself Första övningsboken i svensk grammatik, by Gunnar Hellström © 1994. I heartily recommend it. By far the best of its kind.to prepare us immigrants for the Lutheran take on life:

Jag får inte börja jobba. Jag har inget arbetstillstånd.

~ I am not allowed to work. I don’t have a work permit.

Ta det lugnt, mormor! Doktorn kommer snart här.

~ Shut up, grandma! The doctor will soon be here.

När tänker du betala tillbaka pengarna som du lånat?

~ When are you thinking of paying me back the money you borrowed?

Min mamma har cancer och tror att hon kommer att dö.

~ My mother has cancer and she thinks she’s about to die.

Those last two sentences are meant to illustrate that Swedes have 3 lexemes for the verb to think,

Not to be confused with morphemes.much like eskimos have 15 lexemes to describe their wealth of experience with snow. If you think you might die (belief), you tror. If you’re thinking of suicide (intent), you tänker, and if you think dying would be nice (opinion), you tycker. Choose the wrong verb, and your fear of death turns into a deathwish. Who said Swedish was easy?