Ungefär

“Almost got it!”

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash

Today I struggle with the Swedish word ungefär, when translated to English, means “approximately.” I was struggling whether it implies för mer än (more than) or för mindre än (less than).

I was trying to answer the question of when the first ice cream truck came to Sweden (the text mentioned för ungefär fyrtio år sedan). The question provides three answer choices: 40 years ago (I ruled this one out due to its absolute value in nature), more than 40 years ago, and less than 40 years ago. This leaves me with the original struggle.

So I turn to the dictionary to try to resolve this. Google provided some clues:

used to show that something is almost, but not completely, accurate or exact; roughly.

It also throws in some synonyms:

roughly about | around | just about | round about | or so | or thereabouts | more or less | in the neighborhood of | in the region of | in the area of | in the vicinity of | of the order of | something like | or thereabouts | give or take (a few) | in round numbers | rounded up/down | near to | close to | nearly | not far off | almost | approaching | getting on for | circa | pushing | in the ballpark of

Based on the above logic, I believe—in conclusion—the answer should be för mindre än fyrtio år sedan (less than 40 years ago).