In English, a house is a home, usually for one family and with a ground floor and one or two upper storeys. A house with only a ground floor is called a bungalow.
In Swedish, hus can apply to various types of buildings and homes, such as enfamiljshus, single family home; parhus, semi-detached house; småhus, house for one or two families; enplanshus, single storey building; flerfamiljshus, block of flats, apartment building, literally house for several families; höghus, high-rise building; radhus, terraced house; hyreshus, tenement building; husbil, mobile home; husvagn, caravan; varuhus, department store.
House and hus probably come from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning to cover or hide.
An Englishman was invited to a Swedish family, who told him they lived in the third house on the left in Skolgatan (School Street). They waited in vain for him to turn up for dinner, and when they finally got in touch, he told them that he had not seen any houses in Skolgatan – there were only buildings.
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