Please tell me about the Swedish word "svida."  I know it means
"smart" in Swedish, but please tell me HOW it is used. Can a certain
person be "svida?" Is there a negative way this word is ever used? 
Please provide sentence examples with translations...

Hello krykie-ga,

Actually, it appears that "svida" is only used in a negative way.  It
does not mean "smart" as in "intelligent", but rather "smart" as in
"to feel hurt".

I don't know Swedish myself (I'm not sure whether any of the
Researchers do!).  However, I checked several dictionaries at the
library today, which confirm this meaning of "svida".

Here is the main part of the entry for "svida" in Prisma's Modern
Swedish-English and English-Swedish Dictionary (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1984), p. 440:

"svid|a .... smart; (friare) ache; såret -er (äv.) the wound is very
painful; det -er i ögonen [på mig] my eyes smart; röken -er i ögonen
the smoke makes my eyes smart; det -er i halsen [på mig] my throat
feels sore, I have a sore throat; det -er i själen på mig att se it
breaks my heart to see; det -er men det -er gott it hurts but you feel
better for it ..."

A few notes on this entry:

The slash in "svida" ("svid|a") signifies that each time you see
"-er", the word in the example is "svider".

The word "friare" is defined elsewhere in this dictionary as "suitor".
 Thus, "svida" apparently connotes the ache of a suitor for the object
of his or her affection.

The abbreviation "äv." stands for "även", which means "also".  I'm not
sure why "also" is indicated at this point in the entry.

Anyway, I hope that this information is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga

Exactly what I was looking for. I was saved embarassment!

None of the dictionaries really gives a "fair" translation (according
to me) of the word "svida". Justaskscott-ga is in no way wrong, no
language teacher would disagree, and in fact I would translate the
word just like the dictionaries did. What I mean is that there is not
really any English word that you can translate svida into (words
meaning greatly depend on how the "user" interpret the word, thus I
can not speak for every person that uses the word). I could be wrong,
I do only know a "few" words of the English language and since it was
not my first language to learn my "real" language (Swedish) will have
great impact on how I interpret English words. Anyhow and anyway, when
you get burnt by the sun (or look directly at the sun or right when
you got your graze) and your skin gets all red (real red), that is
"svider". There might be an English word for this, and one of the
translations might be just this to you and all who had English as
their first language, but to me there is no correct translation of the
word.

Svida can also be used as (slang, accepted use of the word but not the
"real use") "jag ska bara *svida om*". “I am just going to change
clothes”, (mostly when getting "better" clothes, as in changing from
casual clothing to party clothing). I believe this comes from the fact
that when it “svider” your skin is often changing (in color and
structure), either if you got burnt or damaged yourself when you fell
of your bike. I have no fact to base that on, it is just what I
believe.

Another Swedish word that is hard to translate is "lagom" (only two
languages on the planet has a word with just this meaning, the other
language is Chinese "mang*/mand*", I can't remember what it is called
atm). If you try to translate "lagom" into English you will get
"enough, sufficient, adequate, just right", but none is a correct
translation. It is hard to explain what the word means. The best
translation would be "just right", but the English "just right" is
more like the Swedish word "perfekt" (perfect). Lagom is not too much
nor too little, lagom is not more than you need and not less than you
need, lagom is not just what you need (just right) but not
unacceptable either.

English has by far more synonyms than Swedish, but Swedish has some
unique words not found in many other languages. What is interesting
about these words is that very few are able to explain the words when
asked to. Very much like "love", few can explain this word (except
those with a very distinct opinion about what love is) but all know
what it is.

Just a small correction: "friare" is used to indicate a wider or more
liberal use of the word. (It can be translated into "more liberal" in
addition to "suitor".) At svida can also be used as a synonym for "to
burn" or "to sting".

Med vennlig hilsen fra Norge:) 
(Der vi sier "å svi" istedet for "at svida".)