One little two letter word and you get a heck of a all-around particle. Add a little intonation and you amplify the expressiveness. Change the position of the word (start, end, alone), and its meaning shifts dramatically. Repeat the word, add a rising or falling emphasis and it changes into a full-fledged question or statement. Of course the particle is used similarly in English and other languages, but not always! So who says that you have to have an extensive vocabulary to speak a language?
Conversation Starters
So, let me begin. I think Ben put it perfectly when he said that ‘So’ can mean everything or nothing at all or anything in-between.
It’s a real winner of a word as a transitional starter. Pronounce it with neutral or slightly rising tone. For example: So, was het är g’seit? [So, what did he say?]. The Swiss word ‘au-so’ [German: also, English: okay, so NOT also!] works just as well in this question, draw it out a bit ‘auuuu-so, was het är g’seit?’ adds a bit more tension or expectation.
Closers
A ‘So…’ or ‘Au-soo…’ is perfect when you want to signal the end of a telephone conversation. It’s a complete sentence on its own. Meaning something to the effect of ‘Well, we should end this conversation sometime soon. I’ve got place to go, people to see…’ Draw out the ‘o’ minimal, but not too long, just a bit. It doesn’t signal an abrupt end to the conversation and is by no means final when you say it, it’s more like a little nudge. The other person may, and quite likely will finish whatever it is that they were talking about and possibly begin another subject. More often than not, it’s the bell to start winding down a conversation, but not the end in itself.
Prompting Questions
‘So?’ as a question is relatively clear and can be interchanged with an ‘und?’ similar to ‘so’ and ‘and’ in English. It’s simply a push and an expectation for more information. You can use it with the rest of a sentence hung on at the end ‘So, was isch de g’schee?’ [So, what happened then?] or you can drag out the ‘o’ in ‘so’ and let it hang in the air alone: ‘Soooo?’
Skepticism and Doubt
So-so or an elongated ‘Soooooo…’ loosely translates into ‘Yeah, right.’ Tipping your head down a bit so you can glance over your glasses adds the perfect touch. Interestingly enough, in the circles that I belong to, I can’t recall the last time someone said ‘so-so’. Somehow it sounds too German for my ears, much too short and quick for a Bernese to say . But, on the other hand ‘soooooo… dr hung het’s gfrässe?’ [Uh-huh, the dog ate it?] is quite plausible. A little less elongated you can use it as a single utterance. It would mean something like, ‘I don’t really believe you’ or ‘I’m not really listening to you but I wanted to make an interjection so you would think I was listening’.
Emphasis and Intensity
In the middle of a sentence the word ‘so’ intensifies the meaning into ‘really’ and ‘very’. ‘I bi so müed!’ [I am really tired.] and I bi so, soooo müed! [I am really very tired!]. This is basically a normal sentence structure.
Manner and Demonstration
‘A-so’ can also describes ‘like this or that’ often combined with gestures: ‘Mach’s a-so!’ [Do it like this!]. In questions: A-so? [Like this?]
Interjection
‘Sssssso.’ This is a lot more ‘s’ and a short ‘o’, you can almost hear the period. It means basically ‘I have nothing important to say, but I wanted to say something’. So you can come out and say whatever was on your mind or just leave it at ‘Ssssssso.’
Homophone So and Sow
Just like in English homophones: so, sew and sow, Swiss German has what I would call almost-homophones. That means that those words sound practically the same to non-Swiss-speakers.
A Swiss who married a Canadian and was living in Canada used her Swiss in different situations. Usually when she was mad she would swear in Bernese calling whoever or whatever a ‘pig-dog’ under her breath. The word ‘pig’ sounds a lot like ‘so!’ and when combined with ‘dog’ changes slightly and sounds almost exactly like ‘so’. Her husband, didn’t speak Swiss but had heard that expression enough to recognize the word as something not good.
Then one evening, as she was serving dinner and put a full plate of food in front of him, she said softly, ‘so-li’. He was shocked! Why was she swearing at him? Luckily he asked her and they cleared it up.
She was not swearing at him and didn’t say ‘souhung’ [pig-dog] but ‘so-li’ [there you go] or [here you go, this is for you]. She used the diminutive of ‘so’, which has absolutely nothing to do with a pig and was about the furthest you could get away from swearing. It’s tender and endearing. You could use it when you’re putting a baby in its crib, for example.
So, the next time you get a dinner plate put in front of you accompanied by the word ‘so-li’ know it’s something positive.
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