Whats the difference between är and står?
I am teaching myself Swedish by learning a little phrase and grammar rule every day as I am not in any rush to learn it, however I hear Swedish speakers use both står and är, both, by my knowledge a form of is. What is the difference
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"Står" means "stands".
If you just say "står" then you "stand", like "standing on a street", on Swedish it's "står på vägen".
"Är" means "is".
When you say "He is so cool", it's "Han är så cool" on Swedish.
But "står" can be used just as "är". But there's a difference in the meaning of the sentence, just like in English.
If you say "Han står där borta" it refers that the person STANDS over there, but when you say "He's over there", it means the the person IS there. Yes, I'm very bad at examples.
One thing many younger Swedes say today is:
"Är du där borta?" which means "Are you over there?".
Many older Swedes say instead:
"Står du där?" which mean "You stand there?"
Many younger Swedes use "är" much more than "står" today.
But don't assume it's just like that, there's still many young Swedes who knows how to actually use the Swedish words.
They can be said in a way that both words ("är" och "står") is "both forms" of "is", but all that depends on how you saying you sentence. But don't assume both words are some magical form of "is", because "står" is often used when someone stands somewhere, stands before the judge, standing up etc.
"Är" is used most to describe something, like if I'm cute, the bird is dead etc.
But "är" can also be used, like I said before, in phrases like "Hitler is in front of us" or similar sentences/phrases.
It's very complicated to actually know when to use which word, but their basic "functions" is:
"Är" is used to describe something.
"Står" means the someone stands somewhere.
And I recommend you to say "står" when you want to say something like "are you standing here" and in those "situations".
And to use "är" when you want to describe something.
står means 'stands' in English, and är means 'is/am/are' in English. There are certain idioms (phrases which are because... they just are.... that's how it's said is the only explanation) where maybe står might be translated as 'is'. So they are NOT both forms of 'is', but they might be in some context you are hearing it. So more context is needed for this Q.