både och

Swedish

Etymology

From både (“both”) +‎ och (“and”). Perhaps from "både A och B" (both A and B), with options A and B.

Pronoun

både och

1. both, both of them (as opposed to just one of them (as might have been expected))

   – Är det där en bil eller en ubåt? – Det är både och!

   – Is that a car or a submarine? – It's both!

   – Åt ni pizza eller hamburgare? – Vi kunde inte bestämma oss, så det blev både och!

   – Did you eat pizza or hamburgers? – We couldn't make up our minds, so we had [so it became] both!

   Pizza och hamburgare – vi åt både och igår

   Pizza and hamburgers – we ate both of them yesterday

Usage notes

• Stress on och.
• More grammatically constrained compared to båda (“both”). "Både och Eva och Nisse var där" (Both and Eva and Nisse were there) is nonsense in Swedish as well.

References

• både in Svensk ordbok (SO)