You know that sucking feeling when your body or mind really wants something? In Sweden, we have a word for that!
Sugen: Pronounced as [soohgen].
Sugen is the past participle of att suga, ‘to suck’. The word for vacuum cleaner (and a particular marzipan pastry) is dammsugare, ‘dust sucker’. Maybe you’re also familiar with sugrör (‘suck pipe’), which is the Swedish word for straw.
Att vara sugen på något ‘to be sucking for something’, meaning that you’re craving something or really want it. It’s primarily used in the context of food, particularly unhealthy food. For example, “Jag är sugen på choklad” (‘craving chocolate’) is a standard phrase. You may also invert the order and create a compound word, like chokladsugen, kaffesugen or fikasugen.
To crave something is stronger than to be sugen på något, though. For example, in Swedish, you’d not use att vara sugen when you talk about pregnancy cravings.
More examples:
Jag har tappat sugen
‘I’ve lost the suck’ (I’ve lost all my energy that is necessary for existing)
Jag är så ressugen.
I really want to travel.
Är du sugen på något särskilt?
Is there anything in particular you’d like to eat?
Linnea, OLS Community Manager – Swedish