Swedish Skills by StrengthCrownsNameOriginal Order

• ••• 32 Verbs: Modal253 @ 25% 75

  Modal verbs

  Modal verbs are verbs that indicate what we in linguistics call modality. Modality is what allows us to attach things such as belief, attitude, and obligation to statements. This means that words such as must, may, want, are all modal verbs.

  This probably sounds very abstract at the moment, let's look at how modal verbs can completely change a sentence:

  • I go to school.
  • I have to go to school.

  Here we use have as a modal verb.

  • I eat.
  • I want to eat.

  Here, the modal word is want.

  You can already see how important modal verbs are. But how do we use them in Swedish? You just add the modal verb, followed by the main verb in infinitive form.

  • Jag går till skolan. (I go to school.)
  • Jag måste gå till skolan. (I must go to school.)

  (If you need a little refresher on the infinitive form, take a quick look at the lesson in infinitive form.)

  Notice how we change går from present tense to the infinitive gå. If we use other tenses, we conjugate the modal verb, not the main verb.

  • Jag såg honom. (I saw him.)
  • Jag kunde se honom. (I could see him)

  Here, we change såg from past tense to the infinitive form, se.

  Glossary

  Finally, here is some of the verbs we will be learning in this lesson:

  Swedish	English
  kan	can
  måste	must
  får	may, be allowed to
  borde	should
  få	get, receive
  ska	will, shall

  Good luck!

• ••• 32 Pronouns objective52 @ 25% 75
• ••• 32 Basics 272 @ 25% 75

  barn · barnet · bok · de · det · dricker · du · flicka · flickan · flickor · god · har · inte · kvinna · kvinnan · kvinnor · läser · mannen · meny · mjölk · mycket · män · natt · ni · pojkar · pojke · pojken · ris · smörgås · så · tidning · varsågod · vi · älskar · äpple · äter
  36 words

  Two genders – but four pronouns!

  That seems a bit overkill - but it is actually quite logical (we Swedes like logic).

  First of all you might wonder what a gender is. Well, there are two kinds of gender – natural (male and female) and grammatical gender.

  English only uses natural gender ("he" for males, "she" for females and "it" for objects) whereas Romance languages such as French use natural genders ("he" and "she") as grammatical gender as well (everything is thus either a "he" or a "she" in French).

  Swedish has a double system. When talking about people, we use the natural gender (he and she) but when we aren't talking about humans, you have to look at the grammatical gender. Swedish words belong either to the en-words (also called n-words, common gender or utrum) or to the ett-words (also called t-words, neuter or neutrum).

  The names en-words and ett-words are derived from the indefinite article (singular) of each group, both corresponding to a(n) in English.

  Examples

  Female	Male	En-words	Ett-words
  hon she	han he	den it	det it

• ••• 32 Basics 111 @ 25% 75

  bröd · en · ett · han · hon · jag · man · och · vatten · är
  10 words

• ••• 41 Celebration571 @ 25% 75

  champagne · grattis · helgdag · helgdagar · läsken · nationaldag · nationaldagen · nyår · smörgåsbord
  9 words

  Congratulations on finishing the course! We hope that you have enjoyed learning the language so far, and we wish you the best of luck on the rest of your Swedish-learning journey! Lycka till :)

• ••• 41 Business562 @ 25% 75

  investering · styrelsens
  2 words

• ••• 41 Future preterite361 @ 25% 75

  Future preterite can be described as the future seen from the past. It is used when speaking about something you were planning at a point of time in the past, or something you thought was going to happen. The forms are the same as for the conditional, skulle + infinitive, but the meaning is not the same.

  Example:
  När vi skulle åka upptäckte vi att bilen var stulen .
  When we were going to go, we discovered that the car was stolen.
  

  The people in this sentence discovered that their car was stolen at a point in time where their leaving had not yet happened – they were going to go, the leaving was still in the future for them.

• ••• 41 Passive552 @ 25% 75

  av · bakad · bars · behandlade · byggdes · byggs · börja · flyttas · förhörda · höjas · höjs · komma · kritiserades · kritiseras · ritade · skulle · tryckt · tryckta · träffa · väljs · älskas · åka
  22 words

  Passive

  There are two kinds of passive in Swedish, the s-passive and the perifrastic passive. Their forms are easy to learn, the problem is to know when to use the passive.

  S-passive

  S-passive is formed by adding the ending -s to the verb.
  

  Verbs that end on -ar in the present tense thus take -as instead, while verbs that end on -er in the present tense end on just -s in the passive present. In the tables below, the passive is shown in action with the -er verb bygga and the -ar verb kasta.

  Bygga
  

  Form	Active form	Passive form
  Future	Vi ska bygga ett hus.	Huset ska byggas.
  	We will build a house	The house will be built.
  Present	Vi bygger ett hus.	Huset byggs.
  	We are building a house.	The house is being built.
  Past	Vi byggde huset.	Huset byggdes.
  	We built the house	The house was built.
  Present perfect	Vi har byggt huset.	Huset har byggts.
  	We have built the house.	The house has been built.

  Kasta
  

  Form	Active form	Passive form
  Future	Vi ska kasta en boll.	Bollen ska kastas.
  	We will throw a ball.	The ball will be thrown.
  Present	Vi kastar en boll.	Bollen kastas.
  	We are throwing a ball.	The ball is being thrown.
  Past	Vi kastade bollen.	Bollen kastades.
  	We threw the ball	The ball was thrown.
  Present perfect	Vi har kastat bollen.	Bollen har kastats.
  	We have thrown the ball.	The ball has been thrown.

  Perifrastic passive

  The perifrastic passive is formed with an auxiliary verb, bli (become) or vara (be), plus a perfect participle. The participle is inflected as an adjective, as usual:
  

  Swedish	English
  Huset var redan byggt.	The house was already built.
  Husen var redan byggda.	The houses were already built.
  Kyrkan var redan byggd.	The church was already built.

  Agent

  If there is an agent in a passive sentence – the agent is the one who performs the action of the verb – the preposition av is used:

  Huset byggdes av tre bröder. ~ The house was built by three brothers.

• ••• 41 Spiritual & Supernatural551 @ 25% 75

  anden · bad · be · böner · gud · gudinna · helige · spöken · tro
  9 words

• ••• 41 Verbs: Conditional342 @ 25% 75

  What is the conditional?
  "The conditional" is just a fancy way to say that we are talking about "would" phrases -- anything that would happen or could have happened or would have happened.

  How do we form the conditional?
  We use the word skulle much like we use the word "would" in English. All you have to do is add skulle before the verb infinitive! Easy peasy!

  Example: Jag skulle läsa om hon lyssnade.
  I would read if she listened.

  You can do the same thing in more complex constructions. "Would have" can be directly translated to skulle ha, which is followed by the perfect form of the verb (like läst or kommit), just as in English.

  Example: Jag skulle ha läst om hon hade lyssnat. I would have read if she had listened.

  Vore
  Vore is the conditional form of the verb vara -- to be. It is actually derived from the archaic past subjunctive mood that once existed in Swedish (and still does in a few set expressions). Although there are some nuances, for now you can use vore just as you would use skulle + any other verb. Because vore already includes the conditional aspect, it would be redundant (and grammatically incorrect) to say skulle vore.

• ••• 41 Science341 @ 25% 75

  ytliga
  1 words

• ••• 41 Active Participles522 @ 25% 75

  bestämt · blivande · döende · flygande · fungerande · fått · givande · gående · ha · hittat · hängande · irriterande · kommande · kommer · lekande · levande · liggande · lärt · passande · ringt · simmande · sittande · skickat · sovande · springande · tagit · talande · överraskande
  28 words

• ••• 41 Verbs: Future Perfect333 @ 25% 75

  Future perfect

  Future perfect is the tense that describes an action that will be completed at a certain point in the future. This tense is easy beacuse it works just the same way in Swedish as in English. Just pay attention to the Swedish word order:
  

  Swedish	English
  Jag kommer att ha hittat den i morgon.	I will have found it tomorrow.
  I morgon kommer jag att ha hittat den	Tomorrow I will have found it.

  When the adverb (i morgon, tomorrow) comes first in the clause, the word order in Swedish is inverted, since the verb must be in second place.

• ••• 41 Communication513 @ 25% 75

  intervjuar · journalist · journalisten · kommunikation · meningen · nyheter · nätet · stulen · stängda · uppäten · öppnade
  11 words

• ••• 41 Politics321 @ 25% 75

  ihjäl
  1 words

• ••• 41 Passive Participles323 @ 25% 75

  inbjuden · irriterat · misslyckat · stängd · uppätna · överraskad
  6 words

  The passive participle (or perfekt particip) is normally used to say that something has happened to an object, and that the action is finished. So it has both a passive meaning and a past tense meaning.

  There are a few patterns for how they are created, e.g.:
  

  1. Verbs ending in -ar get the participle ending in -ad. E.g. irriterar -> irriterad ('irritate', 'irritated')
     
  2. Verbs ending in -er get the ending -d E.g. stänger -> stängd ('close', 'closed'). If the root ends in a voiceless consonant (s, f, k, p, t), the -d is changed to -t instead.
     
  3. Strong verbs get the ending -en E.g. stjäl -> stulen ('steal', 'stolen')
     

  The passive participle behaves like an adjective: it changes for number and gender.

  1. If the common gender form ends in -ad, the neuter form will be -at and the plural -ade. E.g. överraskad, överraskat, överraskade.
     
  2. If it ends in -d, the neuter will end in -t and the plural in -da: stängd, stängt, stängda
     
  3. If the common gender form ends in -en, the neuter form will be -et, and the plural -na. E.g. uppäten, uppätet, uppätna
• ••• 41 Medical312 @ 25% 75

  Speaking about body parts

  Speaking about body parts, this is a good place to point out that in English, you always refer to your body parts with possessive pronouns. In Swedish however, we usually think that it is enough to use the determinate form of the noun.
  

  Compare:
  Jag borstar tänderna - I am brushing my teeth
  It is not wrong to say Jag borstar mina tänder in Swedish, but that's not the idiomatic way of saying it.
  Read more about how to speak about body parts here.

• ••• 41 Arts491 @ 25% 75

  band · fiol · flöjt · hjälten · ljud · pianot · rund · trummor
  8 words

• ••• 41 Directions & Positions303 @ 25% 75

  Directions and positions

  In Swedish, it is very common that words change depending on whether it describes a position or a direction. You have already encountered the two words for where in Swedish; Var (position) & Vart (direction), but now it is time to expand on the subject. The following table summarizes the most important words:
  

  English	Position	Direction
  Here	Här	Hit
  There	Där	Dit
  Up	Uppe	Upp
  Down	Nere	Ned/Ner
  Home	Hemma	Hem

  Let’s make things a bit clearer with a few examples:
  ”I am here” - Jag är här
  ”She is coming here” - Hon kommer hit

  “He is there” – Han är där
  ”I am going there” - Jag går dit
  

  ”She is up on the roof” - Hon är uppe på taket
  “You climb up on the roof” - Du klättrar upp på taket
  

  “She is down on the first floor” - Hon är nere på den första våningen
  ”He jumps down from the roof” - Han hoppar ned/ner från taket
  

  “We are not at home” - Vi är inte hemma
  “They are going home” - De åker hem
  

  Framme

  Framme is a peculiar word which translates to “there” in English, but it has notions of both position and direction. It is usually used when talking about the destination, either while going there, or after having reached it. Sounds confusing? Maybe a few examples can make it clearer.
  

  “Are we there yet?” - Är vi framme snart?
  “We are there now” - Vi är framme nu
  

  In the first example we are talking about the destination while being on our way.
  

  In the second example we have reached the destination after having finished the journey. It essentially means “We have arrived”.
  

  Förbi

  Förbi is used when something is passing by something else, and could be used both for time and space. I.e:
  

  “The car drives by the school” - Bilen kör förbi skolan
  “Our time has passed” - Vår tid är förbi

  Suffixes

  In many cases where English uses a preposition to describe directions, Swedish would rather add a suffix to indicate the same meaning. For example:
  

  Uppifrån – From above
  Uppåt - (To) up
  Uppför - Uphill (or up along)

• ••• 41 Sports472 @ 25% 75

  basket · fotbollsplanen · golf · idrott · klubba · loppet · slår · tränare · turnering
  9 words

• ••• 41 Abstract Objects 2301 @ 25% 75

  konversation
  1 words

• ••• 41 Adverbs 2211 @ 25% 75

  absolut · allmänhet · definitivt · dit · faktiskt · heller · helt · långsamt · möjligtvis · nära · närvarande · nästan · nödvändigtvis · precis · slut · snart · särskilt · tillräckligt · troligtvis · tydligt · ungefär · vanligtvis · var · varken · äntligen
  25 words

  Adverbs

  Adverbs are small words modifying verbs, adjectives or other adverbs! English adverbs often end in -ly (such as happily), but many simply have no particular ending (such as very).

  In Swedish, the common adverbial ending, like English -ly, is -t. These adverbs are identical to ett-word adjectives.

  vacker → vackert beautifully
  glad → glatt happily
  snäll → snällt kindly

  Some adjectives ending in -ig take an adverbial ending in -en or -tvis.

  verklig → verkligen really
  naturlig → naturligtvis naturally

  And, of course, many adverbs simply have no particular ending: e.g. ofta, kanske, alltid.

  Placement of adverbs

  Unlike English, adverbs are always placed after the verb in sentences that start with the subject. This is because of the V2 rule – the verb must always come second.
  

  Jag springer ofta. I often run.
  Du äter hemma. You eat at home.

  Like English, adverbs are placed before adjectives and other adverbs.

  Huset är mycket blått. The house is very blue.
  Jag är lyckligt gift. I am happily married.
  Han är aldrig hemma. He is never at home.

• ••• 41 Adjectives 3291 @ 25% 75
• ••• 41 Continuous Forms282 @ 25% 75

  Continuous Forms

  Thus far, we have learned that the Swedish present tense covers both the English simple present (e.g. 'I eat') and the English present continuous ('I am eating'). While this is correct, we are going to nuance this a little bit.

  In Swedish, there are certain constructions emphasizing a continuous action - and which correspond to the English present continuous (i.e. the -ing form).

  håller på is used when the continuity is strong and we want to emphasize this. It is followed by att plus an infinitive. You will likely also come across it with och plus the present tense, but this is colloquial and not accepted in the course.

  Jag håller på att lära mig svenska. 'I am (in the process of) learning Swedish.'

  If the emphasis is less strong, but the markedness is still desired, we can use one of the verbs sitter/ligger/står together with another present tense verb. This is equal to the English present continuous, but different in the sense that not only does it mark continuity, it also marks the position of the subject.

  Jag ligger och läser. 'I am (lying and) reading.'
  Jag sitter och tittar på teve. 'I am (sitting and) watching television.'
  Jag står och lagar mat just nu. 'I am (standing and) cooking right now'

• ••• 41 Nature281 @ 25% 75

  skärgård
  1 words

• ••• 41 Verbs: Infinitive 2273 @ 25% 75
• ••• 41 Verbs: Past Perfect271 @ 25% 75

  Past perfect

  Do you remember how we learned a couple of lessons back how to create Swedish present perfect? If you do, then this is going to be a real breeze!

  In the present perfect lesson, we learned how we could form sentences such as:

  Jag har ätit = I have eaten
  Du har hört = You have heard

  We're now going to create very similar sentences, but they are going to take place in the past!

  Jag hade ätit = I had eaten
  Du hade hört = You had heard

  We still use the supine form to create the past perfect, but with the past tense form hade instead of the present tense ha.

  Let's take a look at the same table on how to use the supine as we did in the present perfect lesson, but update it for the past perfect instead:

  Infinitive	Past perfect	English translation
  prata	hade pratat	talk
  höra	hade hört	hear
  klä	hade klätt	dress, get dressed
  äta	hade ätit	eat

  All in all, the Swedish past perfect works much the same way as it does in English:

  Jag blev bjuden på middag men jag hade redan ätit.
  I was invited to dinner but I had already eaten.

  Knowing how to use the past perfect is extremely useful for those times when you have to describe what happened in the past, such as what you did last weekend.

  Oh, and one last thing. As you know by now, the very common words sade and lade are pronounced just sa and la in Swedish. But this is not the case with hade - it's actually pronounced as though it were written hadde.

  Good luck!

• ••• 41 Pronouns relative272 @ 25% 75

  Relative pronouns

  I have a car. It is red. I also have a bike. It is blue.

  The above sentences are all correct English, but if you read it out loud, it sounds very clunky. We can use what we call relative pronouns to make it feel more fluent.

  I have a car that is red and a bike that is blue.

  This looks and sounds a lot better! Of course, we can do the exact same thing in Swedish.

  Swedish	English
  vars	whose
  där	where
  som	who, that, which
  vad	what
  vilket	which

  The most important thing to notice here is that you can not use vem orvar as relative pronouns in Swedish. vem and var are just question words. Here are some examples to make things a bit easier.

  Vars

  • Min vän vars far är död. (My friend whose father is dead.)

  Där

  • I landet där vi bor finns det mycket snö. (In the land where we live there's a lot of snow.)

  Som

  • Bilen som de har är ny. (The car that they have is new.)

  Vad

  • Vet du vad jag tänker på? (Do you know what I'm thinking of?)

  Vilket

  • Han fick ett A i matematik, vilket är bra. (He got an A in mathematics, which is good.)
• ••• 41 Future402 @ 25% 75

  bitti · bjuda · boka · dricka · fungera · följa · gifta · glömma · hindra · hända · hänga · kommer · leta · låta · ordna · påverka · sakna · ska · skynda · sluta · tappa · undervisa · uppnå · vila · övermorgon
  25 words

  Future

  First of all, there is good news and bad news. The bad news are there are three different ways to express future in Swedish. The good news are all of these three ways are really simple!

  With the present tense, usually using adverbs

  The first one is basically just present tense with an adverb to describe what time we are talking about.

  • Jag går till skolan om en timme (I'm going to school in an hour)
    
  • Du flyger till Stockholm i morgon (You are flying to Stockholm tomorrow)
    
  • Jag ringer dig (I'll call you). No adverb, but it's understood that I'm not doing it right now.
    

  Although the same kind of constructions exist in English they are a bit more common in casual Swedish.

  Ska

  In Swedish, ska is the equivalent of the English verb will, as in I will. You might stumble upon the spelling skall instead of ska. This is often considered very formal or old-fashioned. Unless you're writing formal texts, just use ska. There is a sort of ’modal’ nuance to ska: whenever you use this form, somebody wants something to happen (or not happen). You could also say that somebody controls what is going to happen, or has decided to do something.
  

  • Jag ska gå till skolan (I will go to school)
    
  • Vi ska köpa ett hus (We will buy a house)
    

  Kommer att

  Kommer att is a bit hard to translate directly, but the closest equivalent would be going to. It is often used when making predictions about what is probably going to happen. In other words, often about things that you can't control.
  

  • Jag tror att det kommer att regna i morgon (I think it is going to rain tomorrow)
    
  • Hon kommer nog inte att tycka om presenten. (She is probably not going to like the gift)
    

  If you happen to mix up ska and kommer att it will sound a bit strange to the native speaker but it will still be grammatically correct. Don't be discouraged by this, you will learn the more subtle differences between the two in time and with practice.

  Good luck!

• ••• 41 Imperative221 @ 25% 75

  The imperative is formed by removing -er from verbs ending in -er in the present tense, and removing -r from verbs ending in -ar in the present tense.
  

  Examples:
  läser -> läs!
  äter -> ät!
  lyssnar -> lyssna!
  betalar -> betala!
  

  Exceptions:
  some very short verbs:
  går -> gå!
  tror -> tro!
  ger -> ge!
  but
  gör -> gör!
  

  Also note: kommer -> kom!

• ••• 41 Animals 2392 @ 25% 75

  biet · borde · ekorrar · ekorren · fick · fjärilar · fjärilen · flugan · får · fåret · grisen · groda · grodan · jagar · kan · kaninerna · ko · kon · lamm · lammet · lejonet · mygga · måste · räven · ska · svans · tigern · tvungna · uggla · ugglan · ödlan
  31 words

• ••• 41 Verbs: Present Perfect251 @ 25% 75

  Present Perfect

  Present perfect is used to express a past event that has present consequences. That's a very vague description, let's look at examples instead. What if we want to say I have eaten or He has written a book, how do you say that in Swedish? That is when we need to use present perfect and that is also what we are going to learn in this lesson.

  What we have to do to express present perfect in Swedish, is to create a form of the verb, that we can use as an adjective. Then we combine this with the present form of ha, which is har.

  • Du har pratat (You have talked)
  • De har hört (They have heard)
  • Hon har klätt sig (She has gotten dressed)
  • Jag har ätit (I have eaten)

  This probably looks complicated, and to be perfectly honest, it is. There are four different basic ways to construct present perfect in Swedish, and they look like this:

  Infinitive	Present Perfect	English Translation
  prata	har pratat	talk
  höra	har hört	hear
  klä	har klätt	dress, get dressed
  äta	har ätit	eat

  The form we use for the main verb is supine and when we combine this with the auxiliary verb har, we get present perfect, the equivalent of the English past participle.

  This is one of those places where Swedish differs more than usual from English so this might need some extra practice. One thing to note is that this form is very common in Swedish and you will have to get used to it not only to understand what people say, but so that you can speak in a more Swedish way.

  All the difficulties aside, good luck with your lesson in Swedish present perfect!

• ••• 41 Adjectives 2242 @ 25% 75

  lätt · lätta · ung
  3 words

  Comparative and Superlative

  By now we know some adjectives. We know how to say something is pretty or someting is ugly. But how do we express that is not just pretty, it's the prettiest or that those shoes are uglier than those shoes?

  We call these forms comparative and superlative.

  Comparative form is used when you compare one thing to another.

  • Sweden is better than Denmark.
  • My dad is stronger than your dad!

  And superlative is used when some is of the highest degree possible of something.

  • She is the nicest person I've met.
  • These meatballs are the best I've had!

  So how do we create these words in Swedish? Let's take a look at the regular ones first.

  Positive	Comparative	Superlative undefined	Superlative defined
  varm	varmare	varmast	varmaste
  billig	billigare	billigast	billigaste
  viktig	viktigare	viktigast	viktigaste

  For some adjectives, we prefer to compare them with mer and mest rather than using endings .This typically happens with adjectives ending in -isk and participles. However in many cases, both work.
  

  And now to the bad news. A lot of adjectives are irregular, especially the most common ones. You are going to have to learn these the hard way, through practice and experience. But don't lose hope yet, many of these are so common that you will learn the forms really fast!

• ••• 41 Abstract Objects 1241 @ 25% 75

  ärende
  1 words

• ••• 41 Feelings343 @ 25% 75

  frid · fridfull · fridfulla · fridfullt · förlät · galen · galna · gillar · glad · glada · hemsk · hemska · hemskt · ihåg · ilska · kul · känslig · känsliga · känslor · kär · kära · kärlek · kärleken · ler · lycka · lyckan · lyckligt · myser · mysig · mysigaste · mysigt · nervös · nöjd · oroa · oroar · rolig · roliga · roligt · sambo · samboskap · skratt · snäll · sorglig · sorgliga · sorgligt · tråkig · tår · tårar · vemod · vemodet · vemodigt
  51 words

• ••• 41 Food 281 @ 25% 75

  apelsin · bageri · bageriet · citron · fläskkött · frukost · frukt · gaffel · glass · hungrig · jordgubbe · juice · kniv · kocken · kopp · kyckling · lunch · mat · middagen · måltid · nötkött · olja · pasta · peppar · saft · saften · salt · sked · socker · soppa · tallrik · tomat · tårta · vegetarian · ägg · äpplet
  36 words

  ”A glass and glass-the”

  Swedish uses two separate indefinite articles, both equivalent to the English a(n), en and ett. The former is used with en-words and the latter with ett-words, hence the names of the two groups.

  When it comes to the definite form, it gets weird.

  Swedish does not use a separate article like English the, instead, we add an ending to the word in question. Guess which one!

  en-words take -en and ett-words take -et.

  However, we do not like to have two vowels next to each other (we just think it sounds wrong). So should the word end in a vowel, we just add the corresponding consonant.

  Sometimes we drop the last -e- or -a- in the word (e.g. “en gaffel” – “gaffeln”) but you don't need to worry about that quite yet!

  Examples

  Indefinite singular	Definite singular
  en sked a spoon	skeden the spoon
  ett glas a glass	glaset the glass

• ••• 41 Verbs: Past 2231 @ 25% 75
• ••• 41 Geography333 @ 25% 75

  brasilien · frankrike · frankrikes · fransk · grekland · greklands · göteborg · helsingfors · italien · köpenhamn · malmö · nederländerna · nordamerika · nordeuropa · nordnorge · polen · polens · rom · rysk · ryska · ryskt · same · samer · samerna · samiska · spanien · spaniens · storbritannien · storbritanniens · sydeuropa · åland · öster · österrike · österrikes · östersjön
  35 words

• ••• 41 Verbs: Infinitive 1222 @ 25% 75

  Infinitive

  Many times, the infinitive form is referred to as the base form. This is not without reason. When memorizing verbs this is the one most frequently used and most conjugation stem from this form. But what do we use it for?

  The infinitive form is used when using a modal verb. These are verbs such as want, will, must. This is actually very similar to how we use the infinitive form in English.

  • I want to drive a car.
  • I have to go to school.

  In Swedish it is almost exactly the same.

  • Jag vill köra en bil. (I want to drive a car)
  • Jag måste gå till skolan. (I must go to school)

  The difference here is that we don't use any equivalent to to in Swedish, except for in some cases. These are the most common ones.

  • Jag gillar att köra bil. (I like driving [a car])
  • Jag hatar att städa. (I hate cleaning)

  Here, the Swedish word att acts like the English word to.

  Note that we do not need to add att if we have an object directly followed by a verb in infinitive form.

  -Låt alla blommor blomma. (Let all flowers bloom) -Vi såg honom springa. (We saw him run)*

  There isn't that much to learn as an English speaker when it comes to Swedish infinitive. Learning when to use att and when not to is the key to mastering it, and that will (as usual) come with practice.

  Common exceptions (Advanced)

  Yes, there are exceptions, we're sorry...

  Modal verbs do not require the use of att. These include words such as kunna, måste and vilja. For more information regarding modal verbs, refer to the lesson Verbs: Modal.

  There are also some ordinary verbs that do not require att. These are börja, sluta, besluta, lära, lära sig.

• ••• 41 Verbs: Past221 @ 25% 75

  Past Tense

  While it's great to be able to express what is happening right now, a lot of times we will want to talk about what happened earlier. This is were the past tense comes into play.

  As with the present tense, there is no difference between I drew and I was drawing. Both are Jag ritade.

  Let's look at how we do this in Swedish.

  ar-verbs

  Present tense	Past Tense	English
  pratar	pratade	talked, was/were talking
  simmar	simmade	swam, was/were swimming
  öppnar	öppnade	opened, was/were opening

  If the present form is -ar, the past form is -ade. This is 100% regular. No exceptions. Remember that both forms have an a in them.

  er-verbs

  Present tense	Past Tense	English
  häller	hällde	poured, was/were pouring
  ringer	ringde	phoned, was/were phoning
  läser	läste	read, was/were reading
  köper	köpte	bought, was/were buying
  hör	hörde	heard, was/were hearing

  Ok, this group might look a bit crazy, but it really isn't. The above are all regular er-verbs. If the verb is regular and its present ends in -er, then the past tense is -de.

  Unless, the core of the verb ends in either of p, t, k, or s. In this case it takes -te, because we find this easier to pronounce.

  If the core ends in r, the regular er-verbs have no present ending, but it still gets its -de in the past tense. Unfortunately, if you see hör you can't see that it is an er-verb, but if you see hörde you immediately know it is a regular er-verb and that it's present form must be hör (only regular er-verbs have a past tense in -de).

  r-verbs

  Present tense	Past Tense	English
  tror	trodde	believed, was/were believing
  bor	bodde	lived, was/were living
  klär	klädde	dressed, was/were dressing

  Finally among the regular verbs, we have the short regular r-verbs. Here we simply add -dde, and we're done with them.

  Irregular verbs

  Present tense	Past Tense	English
  ser	såg	saw, was/were seeing
  är	var	was/were, was/were being
  kommer	kom	came, was/were coming
  springer	sprang	ran, was/were running
  dricker	drack	drank, was/were drinking
  skriver	skrev	wrote, was/were writing

  Last of all, irregular verbs. Your favorite, I know! There are a couple of patterns here, but nothing that would ever fit in a description like this, I'm afraid.

  Worth noting, however, is that:

  • Since English and Swedish are related, many irregular verbs are the same: drack-drank, såg-saw, kom-came. This is a great help trying to remembering them.

  • Just like in English, strong verbs don't have a particular ending, instead they usually change their core vowel. This is where you can go look for patterns, just like in English.

• ••• 41 Education292 @ 25% 75

  ansökning · anteckning · anteckningar · betyder · biblioteket · dokument · dokumentet · elev · eleverna · exemplet · föreläsningar · föreläsningarna · föreläsningen · förklaring · kapitel · kapitlet · klasser · kunskap · kunskapen · kunskaper · kurs · lektion · lektionen · lärare · läraren · läxa · mål · målet · ord · pennan · presentation · presentationen · professorns · prov · rapport · rapporten · rast · skola · svårighet · svårigheter · svårigheterna · trots · undervisning · undervisningen · uppsats · utbildning · övning · övningar · övningen
  49 words

• ••• 41 Verbs: Present 3211 @ 25% 75

  missar · ses
  2 words

  Lesson 7: Particle verbs

  Particle verbs are very characteristic for the Swedish language. You have some in English too, but in Swedish there are many more and they are more frequently used. An English example would be turn off, like in Turn off the radio!, which would be Stäng av radion! in Swedish, also with a particle verb.
  In particle verbs, the particle is always stressed. The presence of the particle changes the meaning of the verb, so that the verb with the particle can mean something quite different from what the verb means on its own, just like Turn off the radio! means something very different from Turn the radio!
  So, while dyker on its own means 'dives', dyker upp means 'shows up', 'appears'. While håller on its own means just holds, håller med means 'agrees'.
  In negated phrases, inte comes between the verb and the particle: Don't turn off the radio! will be Stäng inte av radion!
  

  Lesson 8: Deponent verbs

  Deponent verbs are verbs that have the same form as passive verbs (ending with an -s) but are not passive. All the verbs taught in Lesson 8 of this skill are deponent verbs. You've already learned one before this lesson: finns, the verb used in the construction Det finns = There is/are.
  Morphologically, deponent verbs work the same as other verbs, except that they have the ending -s in every form. Compare: Jag känner dig ('I know you') – Det känns bra ('It feels good').
  

  This is all you really need to know about them, but if you want to know more, you can read here.
  

  Lesson 9: Reflexive verbs

  Some verbs are reflexive, which means they need to have a reflexive pronoun as an object. To take the verb skyndar sig 'hurry' as an example, it will be like this:
  Jag skyndar mig 'I am hurrying'
  Du skyndar dig 'You are hurrying'
  Han/hon/hen/den/det skyndar sig 'He/she/it is hurrying'
  Vi skyndar oss 'We are hurrying'
  Ni skyndar er 'You are hurrying'
  De skyndar sig 'They are hurrying'
  

  Some verbs can be either reflexive or not reflexive, but take a normal object instead when they're not reflexive. For instance, the Swedish verb lär – either you learn 'yourself', or you teach someone else:
  Jag lär mig svenska 'I am learning Swedish'
  Du lär dig svenska 'You are learning Swedish'
  etc, or:
  Jag lär dig svenska 'I am teaching you Swedish'
  Du lär mig svenska 'You are teaching me Swedish' etc.
  

  Lesson 10: Reflexive particle verbs

  Verbs can be both particle verbs and reflexive at the same time. In that case, what is said above about both those things apply to them. Some examples are
  

  • tar med sig literally 'takes with oneself' means brings in the sense someone of taking something with them
    
  • har med sig literally 'has with oneself', means brings in the sense of someone having something with them
    
  • tar av sig literally 'takes off oneself', used for taking off clothes
    
  • delar med sig literally 'parts with oneself', means shares – Hon delar med sig av sin mat = 'She shares her food'.
    

  The particle can also come last, as in bryr sig om (literally: 'worries oneself about')- 'cares': Bryr du dig om mig? - 'Do you care about me?'

• ••• 41 Determiners272 @ 25% 75

  allting · andra · annan · annat · antingen · båda · både · denna · dessa · detta · förra · förrförra · här · ingen · ingendera · ingenting · man · någon · någonting · något · några · själv · sådana · sådant · utom · varandra · varje · vem
  28 words

  Detta? Det här? What's this?

  In Swedish, there are two sets of words, both meaning this/these.

  First, there is den här, det här, de här. (singular en, singular ett, plural)

  Second, there is denna, detta, dessa. (same thing here)

  The difference in usage is a question of dialect and of formality.

  • denna/detta/dessa are generally considered more formal. They are used together with an indefinite noun, and this formation is usually found mostly in the written language.

  • den här/det här/de här are generally considered slightly less formal. They are used with a definite noun, and are common both in the written language and in the everyday language of Central and Northern Sweden, as well as Finland.

  • denna/detta/dessa are also used in the spoken language of Western and Southern Sweden. In this case they're usually followed by a definite noun, but this formation is never written in the standard language.

  Summary of the standard forms

  denna/detta/dessa	den här/det här/de här
  denna bok	den här boken
  detta hus	det här huset
  dessa böcker	de här böckerna
  dessa hus	de här husen

  Någon, något, and några? Who are they?

  These words have a few meanings depending on the context. Most commonly, they will mean some, a few or any when describing something else. They have to agree in gender or number with what they describe, thus it's någon bok (any/some book), något hus (any/some house) and några stenar (some/any/a few stones).

  Furthermore, when used on their own as pronouns,

  • någon means someone or anyone.

  • något means something or anything.

  • några means some (plural of someone/something) or any (plural of anyone/anything).

  It might seem strange that both some and any can translate here, but context will tell.

  You might come across the word någonting in Swedish. It means just the same as något, but is a little more formal.

  All, alla, allt!

  Lastly, there are the words all, alla and allt. They are used to indicate all of something. By now, you've probably guessed it right, and indeed these also have to agree in gender or number with the noun, giving us:

  • All mjölk/mjölken "all (the) milk", en-word
    

  • Allt smör/smöret "all (the) butter", ett-word
    

  • Alla bilar/bilarna "all (the) cars", plural
    

  Just like någon/något/några, they can also be used on their own as pronouns, in which case:

  • alla means everyone.

  • allt means everything.

  And just like with någonting, there is the word allting, which means the same as allt, but is a bit more formal.

  You'll learn more about the forms of these words and a few more in these exercises. Good luck!

• ••• 41 Travel201 @ 25% 75

  cykel · danmark · engelska · finlandssvenskar · pass · semester · stockholms
  7 words

• ••• 41 Numbers203 @ 25% 75

  stycken
  1 words

• ••• 41 People251 @ 25% 75

  allmänheten · befolkning · befolkningen · byarna · fiende · fienden · flickvän · folk · folket · individen · killar · kille · killen · konferens · kronprinsessan · kultur · kulturer · kung · medborgare · medborgaren · offret · prins · prinsessa · spädbarn · spädbarnet · ungdomarna · viking · vikingar
  28 words

• ••• 41 Objects182 @ 25% 75

  bord · dator · skrivbord · säng
  4 words

• ••• 41 Places181 @ 25% 75

  centrum · framsidan · insidan · kyrka · marknad · museum · parken · sverige
  8 words

• ••• 41 Adverbs 1171 @ 25% 75

  aldrig · alltid · där · för · här · ibland · kanske · mer · ofta · tillsammans · väldigt
  11 words

  Adverbs

  Adverbs are small words modifying verbs, adjectives or other adverbs! English adverbs often end in -ly (such as happily), but many simply have no particular ending (such as very).

  In Swedish, the common adverbial ending, like English -ly, is -t. These adverbs are identical to ett-word adjectives.

  vacker → vackert beautifully
  glad → glatt happily
  snäll → snällt kindly

  Some adjectives ending in -ig take an adverbial ending in -en or -tvis.

  verklig → verkligen really
  naturlig → naturligtvis naturally

  And, of course, many adverbs simply have no particular ending: e.g. ofta, kanske, alltid.

  Placement of adverbs

  Unlike English, adverbs are always placed after the verb in sentences that start with the subject. This is because of the V2 rule – the verb must always come second.
  

  Jag springer ofta. I often run.
  Du äter hemma. You eat at home.

  Like English, adverbs are placed before adjectives and other adverbs.

  Huset är mycket blått. The house is very blue.
  Jag är lyckligt gift. I am happily married.
  Han är aldrig hemma. He is never at home.

• ••• 41 Verbs: Present 2162 @ 25% 75

  behöver · dör
  2 words

• ••• 41 Adjectives 1161 @ 25% 75

  bra · dyr · gammal · kall · liten · lång · varm
  7 words

  Adjectives

  In English, adjectives never change their form. In Swedish however, they change all the time—in fact, they have to! Just like German, Spanish or French, adjectives in Swedish have to agree with the noun they modify.

  This means, that Swedish adjectives have different forms depending on whether the noun is definite or indefinite, whether it’s singular or plural, and whether it’s an en or an ett word.

  Indefinite forms

  When an adjective is used with an indefinite noun, such as en fisk or ett hus, it changes according to the form of the noun it modifies.

  For singular en-words, the suffix is -Ø (i.e. nothing at all), meaning the adjective is identical to the basic form:
  en stor fisk, en gul bil, en snäll hund.

  For singular ett-words, the suffix -t is added to the basic form:
  ett stort hus, ett gult bord, ett snällt meddelande.

  For plural words, the ending is always -a, regardless of the gender of the word:
  stora fiskar/hus, gula bilar/bord, snälla hundar/meddelanden.

  Singular en	Singular ett	Plural en/ett
  -Ø	-t	-a
  stor	stort	stora
  gul	gult	gula
  snäll	snällt	snälla

  Definite forms

  If the noun is definite, the adjective takes the ending -a in all cases, no matter gender or number. What’s important to note, however, is that whenever a definite noun is used together with an adjective, an article is placed in front of the adjective. This article is den for singular en-words, det for singular ett-words, and de for plural words (note that de is pronounced as ‘dom’).

  en stor fisk → den stora fisken
  ett gult bord → det gula bordet
  snälla hundar → de snälla hundarna

  This article is mandatory—the only time it isn’t used is in proper names and epithets: Svarta Havet ‘the Black Sea’, Röda Torget ‘the Red Square’, Vita Huset ‘the White House’.

  The definite form of the adjective is also used with possessives, even though the noun itself is not definite:

  min fisk → min stora fisk
  ditt bord → ditt gula bord
  Eriks hundar → Eriks snälla hundar

  In addition to the definite -a form, there is also a definite form ending in -e. This form is used in the singular when the noun being referred to is male (and would be referred to as han as opposed to den):
  den store mannen, den nye ministern, den kloke pappan.
  It is common in epithets referring to men:
  Lille Prinsen ‘the Little Prince’, Alexander den Store ‘Alexander the Great’.

  It should be noted that this masculine form is optional in the written language, and usually absent in colloquial Swedish, the exception being in names and titles such as those mentioned above.

  Singular en	Singular ett	Plural en/ett
  (den) -a	(det) -a	(de) -a
  (den) stora	(det) stora	(de) stora
  (den) gula	(det) gula	(de) gula
  (den) snälla	(det) snälla	(de) snälla

  Alternative patterns

  There are a number of adjectives not conforming to the pattern described above. Some of these are irregular, but most of them can be grouped together in the patterns shown below.

  Singular en	Singular ett	Plural/Definite
  egen, öppen	eget, öppet	egna, öppna
  fri, ny	fritt, nytt	fria, nya
  röd, glad	rött, glatt	röda, glada
  hård, stängd	hårt, stängt	hårda, stängda
  skalad, älskad	skalat, älskat	skalade, älskade
  trött, rätt	trött, rätt	trötta, rätta
  tyst, exakt	tyst, exakt	tysta, exakta
  sann, tunn	sant, tunt	sanna, tunna
  dum, långsam (short vowel)	dumt, långsamt	dumma, långsamma
  enkel, vacker	enkelt, vackert	enkla, vackra

  Irregular adjectives

  Some adjectives simply do not change at all, just like in English. These generally end in -s, -e or -a:
  

  en bra film, ett bra hus, bra personer
  den bra filmen, det bra huset, de bra personerna
  

  en främmande film, ett främmande hus, främmande personer
  den främmande filmen, det främmande huset, de främmande personerna

  A couple of adjectives have irregular forms:

  en liten pojke, ett litet hus, små katter
  den lille/lilla pojken, det lilla huset, de små katterna

  en gammal man, ett gammalt hus, gamla katter
  den gamle/gamla mannen, det gamla huset, de gamla katterna

• ••• 41 Occupations151 @ 25% 75

  bonde · jobb · skådespelare
  3 words

  Occupations – without articles

  Generally when you speak about professions in Swedish, you don't use an article. So when you say in English I am a doctor, in Swedish you should say Jag är läkare., without the article.
  

  The article can be used with professions in some cases, but beware, it may change the meaning. Compare:
  

  Han är clown = He works as a clown. (it is his job)
  Han är en clown = He is like a clown. (he behaves like a clown)
  In English, if you say He is a clown, you could mean either one of those two things.

  If there are any adjectives involved however, the article is used:
  Hon är en bra läkare = She is a good doctor.

• ••• 41 Family142 @ 25% 75

  bror · dotter · familj · far · fru · frus · syster
  7 words

  See this discussion: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5667610

• ••• 41 Time101 @ 25% 75

  dygn · dygnets · halvår · morgon
  4 words

• ••• 41 Conjunctions132 @ 25% 75

  därför · eller · medan · men
  4 words

  Conjunctions

  A conjunction is a small word used to link sentences together. English examples are and, but, because, and that.

  Some conjunctions, such as och, eller and men are normal conjunctions and merely join two sentences together:

  Jag ser dig och du ser mig. I see you and you see me.
  Jag vill äta glass men det vill inte du. I want to eat ice cream but you don't.
  

  But there are also so called subordinate conjunctions, such as att, eftersom and innan. They create a subordinate clause, which means that they introduce something that is dependent on the rest of the total sentence.

  Jag vet att du är här. I know that you are here.
  Jag äter maten eftersom den är god. I eat the food because it is good.

  Now, this is all fine and dandy, but there is something to these subordinate conjunctions that is important to know! Just like in English, they can be moved around in and be put both before and after the rest of the sentence. When they are moved to the front, the verb of the other, main part of the sentence must immediately follow them!

  Att du är här vet jag . That you are here, I know.
  Eftersom den är god äter jag maten. Because it is good, I eat the food.

  NB: The conjunction därför att can never start a sentence, in such cases we use eftersom instead.

• ••• 41 Prepositions141 @ 25% 75

  att · av · bakom · bredvid · efter · eftersom · enligt · framför · framåt · från · för · före · genom · helst · hos · i · innan · med · mellan · mot · när · om · på · som · till · under · utan · utan · utanför · vid · åt · över
  32 words

  Prepositions

  Prepositions are words that describe spatial or temporal relations. In other words, words such as: on, under, to, and from.

  Prepositions in Swedish are used very similarly to their English counterparts.

  Many times they will be literal translations of each other:

  -Äpplet är på bordet. (The apple is on the table.)

  -Barnet är under bordet. (The child is under the table.)

  But sometimes the translations don't match at all:

  -Jag är på stan. (literally: I am on the city)

  This means that while prepositions many times are very similar in the two languages you are going to have to learn them the hard way: through practice and experience.

  But there's no need to be discouraged by this! Remember, a lot of them are similar to English and there are not very many prepositions in either Swedish or English. Just make sure to keep at it and you will be speaking great Swedish in no time!

  Good luck!

• ••• 41 Questions131 @ 25% 75

  frågan · frågar · förstår · gör · hur · inga · ingen · inget · jo · många · när · om · svar · svarar · svaret · tycker · vad · var · varför · vart · vem · vems · vet · vilka · vilken · vilket
  26 words

  Asking questions.

  The main function of any language is the exchange of information. Because of this, being able to ask questions is an essential part of learning any language!

  Luckily, asking questions in Swedish does not differ much from asking questions in English at all!

  First, we have a selection of question words, just like in English.

  Swedish	English
  vad	what
  var	where (location)
  vart	where (direction)
  hur	how
  varför	why
  vem	who
  vems	whose
  när	when
  vilken/vilket/vilka	which
  vilka	who (only for plurals)

  Most of the time, we use these just like we would in English.

  Swedish	English
  Vad gör du?	What are you doing?
  Var är du?	Where are you?
  Vems hund är det?	Whose dog is it?

  Note that the Swedish equivalents of which are conjugated just like the adjectives.

  Form	Swedish	English
  En-words	Vilken bil?	Which car?
  Ett-words	Vilket hus?	Which house?
  Plural	Vilka hundar?	Which dogs?

  Also you might have noticed Swedish contains two words for where. What for? It's quite simple really, one is for location, where you are, and one is for direction, where you are heading.

  • Var är du? (Where are you?)
  • Vart går du? (Where are you going?)

  Don't worry if you mix these up sometimes, a lot of native speakers do it all the time!

  Inversion

  Inversion is when you change the word order in certain situations. Let's take a look at English:

  • You are running.
  • Are you running?

  Notice how we completely changed the meaning of the sentence just by switching the positions of you and are. Amazing!

  And even more amazing: Swedish uses a system very similar to this:

  • Du springer. (You are running.)
  • Springer du? (Are you running?)

  Just like above, we made a question just by switching the positions of du and springer.

  One thing to note is that when using modal verbs (auxiliary verbs) you only invert the modal verb:

  • Han kan springa. (He can run.)
  • Kan han springa?. (Can he run?)

  Again, very similar to English. Note however that unlike English, Swedish does not use to do as an auxiliary verb.

  • Do you run? (Springer du?)
  • Do you like me? (Gillar du mig?)

  Enough reading, it's time for some practice! Good luck and enjoy the simplicity that is Swedish questions!

• ••• 41 Colors122 @ 25% 75

  blå · brun · bruna · brunt · färg · färgglad · grå · grön · grönt · gula · gula · gult · gyllene · lila · orange · rosa · röd · rött · svart · svarta · vit · vita · vitt
  23 words

• ••• 41 Verbs: Present111 @ 25% 75

  arbetar · ser · simmar
  3 words

  Present Tense

  Verbs are words that describe actions, such as to run or to eat. Verbs come in many different forms and we're about to learn about the Swedish present tense, used to describe what is happening right now, i.e. in the present time.

  In English, a distinction is made between he runs and he is running. In Swedish, no such difference exists, both would be correctly translated with han springer.

  The Swedish present tense is very simple and easy to learn and is formed in three different ways. With very few exceptions, it always ends with the letter -r. Let's have a look:

  -ar

  Present Tense	English
  hoppar	jump(s), is/are jumping
  betalar	pay(s), is/are paying
  simmar	swim(s), is/are swimming

  These are the -ar-verbs. They are 100% regular. Not that this matters right now, but it will later.

  -er

  Present Tense	English
  sover	sleep(s), is/are sleeping
  säljer	sell(s), is/are selling
  sjunger	sing(s), is/are singing

  In this group we find the regular -er-verbs, but also many of the irregular, so called "strong" verbs. This doesn't matter either at this stage, but again, it will later on!

  -r

  Present Tense	English
  bor	live(s), is/are living
  går	go(es), is/are going
  ger	give(s), is/are giving

  In this group as well we find a mix. There are regular -r-verbs, as well as strong verbs. All of them are short, though, consisting of only one syllable.

  Also, great news! We do not conjugate verbs based on who is performing the action. Ever! Not for the present tense, not for any tense! Not for any verb! Ever! We promise! 100% guaranteed!

  Swedish	English
  jag springer	I run
  du springer	you run
  han/hon springer	he/she runs
  vi springer	we run
  ni springer	you run
  de springer	they run

• ••• 41 Clothing111 @ 25% 75

  byxor · byxorna · halsduk · halsdukar · halsduken · handskar · handske · hatt · hattar · jacka · jackor · jackorna · kjolarna · kjolen · kläderna · klänning · klänningar · klänningen · knapp · knappar · kostym · kostymen · på · rock · rocken · sig · skjorta · skjortan · skjortor · sko · skon · skärp · skärp · slipsarna · slipsen · strumpa · tröja · tröjan · tröjor · tröjorna
  40 words

  Wearing clothes

  The most common way of saying that someone wears clothes in Swedish is har på sig
  This is a reflexive particle verb. This means that the stress is always on på, which is a particle here, not a preposition, and the reflexive pronoun changes with person. So the whole verb looks like this in the present:

  jag har på mig
  du har på dig
  han/hon har på sig
  vi har på oss
  ni har på er
  de har på sig

• ••• 41 Possessives101 @ 25% 75

  barnens · deras · dess · din · dina · ditt · er · era · ert · flickans · flickornas · hans · hennes · hundarnas · hunds · katternas · kockarnas · kockens · kvinnans · mannens · min · mina · mitt · pojkarnas · restaurangens · sin · sina · sitt · vår · våra · vårt
  31 words

  My, my, my – possessive pronouns

  Swedes like order. Therefore we have different possessive pronouns depending on the person (e.g. “we”) and the following word (which, as you know very well by now, is either an en-word or an ett-word - or plural). However, we thought there would be way too many pronouns if each person had three possessive pronouns, so we made an exception for the third person singular and plural, which only have one each.

  Subject	En-words	Ett-words	Plural
  Jag	min	mitt	mina
  Du	din	ditt	dina
  Han	hans	hans	hans
  Hon	hennes	hennes	hennes
  Det	dess	dess	dess
  Den	dess	dess	dess
  Vi	vår	vårt	våra
  Ni	er	ert	era
  De	deras	deras	deras

  Who is kissing whose husband???

  Imagine Maria is going for a walk with her husband Erik. On their way, they stumble across Annika and her husband Sven. Annika then suddenly kisses her husband. Which husband is she actually kissing? Her own husband Sven – or Maria’s husband Erik?! This is a crucial question for Swedes, so therefore we use something called reflexive possessive pronouns (only in the third person) which says that “it’s the subject’s”.

  Example

  Annika kysser sin man Annika kisses her husband	Puh, we can rest reassured, no conflict (Swedes are very afraid of conflicts) because sin tells us “it’s the subject’s” (i.e Annika’s) husband.
  Annika kysser hennes man Annika kisses her husband	Oh, oh – we have a problem – this means that Annika is kissing not her own husband but “her” (i.e Maria’s) husband (i.e Erik)!

  This reflexive possessive pronoun also has three forms – and I daresay you may guess what they look like (and why)! They replace “hans”, “hennes” “dess” and “deras” if the subject is the “owner”.

  Sin	en-words
  Sitt	ett-words
  Sina	plural

• ••• 41 Plurals93 @ 25% 75

  ankor · ankorna · barn · barnen · brev · breven · böcker · böckerna · djur · djuren · elefanter · elefanterna · fiskar · fiskarna · flera · flickorna · fåglar · fåglarna · hundar · hundarna · hästar · hästarna · jordgubbar · jordgubbarna · katter · katterna · kockar · kockarna · kvinnorna · männen · sköldpaddor · sköldpaddorna · smörgåsar · smörgåsarna · tallrikar · tallrikarna · tidningar · tidningarna · älgarna · äpplen · äpplena
  41 words

  Plurals

  Swedish plurals have a reputation for being irregular and hard to learn. This is, in fact, not true. While there are certainly many irregular plural forms in Swedish, there is also a lot of predictability, and a large amount of words are entirely predictable if you know the rules!

  Below are the 5 normal Swedish plural forms - both indefinite and definite.

  Singular	Plural indefinite	Plural definite
  en kvinna	kvinnor	kvinnorna
  en hund	hundar	hundarna
  en sak	saker	sakerna
  ett hus	hus	husen
  ett yrke	yrken	yrkena

  How to predict the plural

  En-words

  • -a → -or
    en kvinna → kvinnor
    en gata → gator

  • -e → -ar
    en pojke → pojkar

  • Words in -are have no special plural form.
    en läkare → läkare

  • -ing → -ingar
    en tidning → tidningar

  • Words with stress on the final syllable always take -er.
    en elefant → elefanter
    en station → stationer
    en idé → idéer

  • Words ending in -el, --er and -en usually take -ar, losing their e in the process.
    en fågel → fåglar
    en vinter → vintrar

  • One-syllable words can take either -ar or -er, usually the former.
    en hund → hundar
    en färg → färger

  Ett-words

  • If they end in a consonant, they have no plural ending.
    ett hus → hus
    ett barn → barn

  • If they end in a vowel, they take -n.
    ett yrke → yrken
    ett meddelande → meddelanden

  Irregular plurals

  There are several irregular plural forms, usually these include changing the main vowel.

  en man → män
  en mus → möss
  en hand → händer
  en bok → böcker

  The ending -en

  It's important to remember that the ending -en can be one of three things:
  1. the definite singular of an en-word
  2. the definite plural of an ett-word ending in a consonant
  3. the indefinite plural of an ett-word ending in a vowel
  Beware of this common trap for students of Swedish!

  1. armen the arm
     
  2. husen the houses
     
  3. äpplen apples
• ••• 41 Definite forms91 @ 25% 75

  brevet · brödet · citronen · fisken · fläskköttet · frukosten · frukten · glassen · jordgubben · kaffet · kycklingen · köttet · lunchen · maten · nötköttet · oljan · osten · pastan · pepparn · riset · saltet · smörgåsen · sockret · soppan · teet · tidningen · tomaten · vattnet · vinet · ägget · ölet
  31 words

  Indefinite and definite singular

  All Swedish words are divided into two groups: en-words (or utrum) and ett-words (or neutrum). Unfortunately, you cannot know to which group a certain word belongs but there are some tips to have a greater chance of guessing right.

  • Most words are en-words
  • Most words designating a person are en-words ¹
  • Have a look at the ending, many endings take the same article (e.g. –a² , –ing and –het are always en-words)

  ¹ One common exception is ett barn a child
  ² The only exceptions are ett öga, ett öra and ett hjärta.
  

  Forms

  The indefinite singular always takes an article. en-words take en and ett-words take ett

  To form the definite form you simply add -en to the en-words and -et to the ett-words.

  Examples

  Indefinite	Definite
  en bok a book	boken the book

  Liebe Deutschsprachige & Lieve Nederlandstalige A special warning to you: in the vast majority of the cases, the ending -en is not a plural ending, as is German and Dutch! "Studenten" means the student. The plural of "student" is in fact "studenter).

  Special cases

  Swedish does not like to have two vowels next to each other, so if a word ends in a vowel, we drop the -e- in the ending.

  Examples

  Indefinite	Definite
  en soppa a soup	soppan the soup
  ett kaffe a coffee	kaffet the coffee

  Sometimes, we do keep the -e- in the ending, but we drop the -e- in the preceding syllable instead. This happens to ett-words ending in –el, –en, and –er.

  Examples

  Indefinite	Definite
  ett vatten a water	vattnet the water
  socker a sugar	sockret the sugar

  But why, oh, why do you do this to me?
  Because “vattenet”, “sockeret” would be too blurry and sound way too Danish!

• ••• 41 Animals82 @ 25% 75

  anka · ankan · björn · björnen · djur · djuret · elefant · elefanten · fågel · fågeln · hund · hunden · häst · hästen · katt · katten · krabba · krabban · myra · renen · sköldpadda · sköldpaddan · spindel · spindeln · varg · vargen · älg · älgen
  28 words

  Fågeln och spindeln

  Hmm... did you spot the definite article at the end? Looks a bit strange, doesn't it? One would have expected "fågelen" and "spindelen". Well, to be honest, you can - in some Swedish regions (in the South for instance).

  The en-word endings –el, –en, –er and –ar are very hungry endings so they eat up the following -e-, leaving us with only a consonant.

  Examples

  Indefinite	Definite
  en fågel a bird	fågeln the bird
  en spindel a spider	spindeln the spider

  A Møøse once bit my sister...

  The national animal of Sweden is The King of the Forest, Alces alces, in American English known as the moose. In British English, this animal is called as an elk. Just to make things more complicated, there's an American animal called elk which is not at all the same animal as the moose or what the Brits call an elk, this is Cervus canadensis, also known as a wapiti (in Swedish: en wapitihjort, but we don't have them here).
  Complications don't stop there. The normal plural of both moose and elk is the same as the singular, so that it's one moose, several moose and one elk, several elk. The Swedish word behaves perfectly normal though: en älg, älgen in the singular, and in the plural: älgar, älgarna.
  There are lots of moose in Sweden. The yearly hunt is a big deal, notably the king likes to shoot the big animal. Moose can be a big traffic problem. There are road signs with moose on them to warn for them, these have become a sort of tourist symbol for Sweden, and especially German tourists have been known to steal those signs as souvenirs. Young moose are not shy and often like to enter people's gardens to eat apples.
  There's also usually at least one kid in every school who looks a lot like a moose and is nicknamed The moose. :P

• ••• 41 Food31 @ 25% 75

  fisk · glas · kaffe · kött · ost · te · vin · öl
  8 words

  ”A glass and glass-the”

  Swedish uses two separate indefinite articles, both equivalent to the English a(n), en and ett. The former is used with en-words and the latter with ett-words, hence the names of the two groups.

  When it comes to the definite form, it gets weird.

  Swedish does not use a separate article like English the, instead, we add an ending to the word in question. Guess which one!

  en-words take -en and ett-words take -et.

  However, we do not like to have two vowels next to each other (we just think it sounds wrong). So should the word end in a vowel, we just add the corresponding consonant.

  Sometimes we drop the last -e- or -a- in the word (e.g. “en gaffel” – “gaffeln”) but you don't need to worry about that quite yet!

  Examples

  Indefinite singular	Definite singular
  en sked a spoon	skeden the spoon
  ett glas a glass	glaset the glass

• ••• 41 Common Phrases23 @ 25% 75

  engelska · hallå · hej · ja · morgon · nej · snälla · svenska · tack · talar · ursäkta
  11 words

  Välkommen!

  This means "welcome", but we don't use it in the expression you're welcome. That would be varsågod.
  

  ”I speak -ska”

  Nope, Swedes don’t have a particular thing for ska music but most names of languages are derived from the name of the country, the adjective or the nationality with the ending –ska added to it.

  Examples

  Country	Adjective	Nationality	Language
  Sverige Sweden	svensk(t) swedish	en svensk a Swede	svenska Swedish (language)
  England England	engelsk(t) English	en engelsman an Englishman	engelska English (language)

  Oh, and as you have probably already noticed, we do not capitalize adjectives, nationalities or languages (only countries). Unless they happen to come first in the sentence, of course.