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SWEDISH

SWEDISH

2. Pronunciation

3. Alphabet

4. Nouns and Cases

Nouns in Swedish have two genders, common and neuter, which adjectives must agree with when modifying nouns. These genders are signified by the indefinite articles: en and ett. In the vocabulary lists, a noun followed by (n) means that it is a neuter noun and it takes the indefinite article ett. The majority of nouns in Swedish are common gender, so they take the indefinite article en.

The only case of nouns that is used in Swedish is the genitive (showing possession), and it is easily formed by adding an -s to the noun. This is comparable to adding -'s in English to show posession.

5. Articles and Demonstratives

There are two indefinite articles (corresponding to a and an) in Swedish: en and ett. En is used with most of the nouns (words denoting people almost always use en), but you will just have to learn which article goes with which noun. The definite article (the) is not a separate word like in most other languages. It is simply a form of the indefinite article attached to the end of the noun.

En words				Ett words
Indefinite		Definite		Indefinite		Definite
en banan	a banana	bananen	the banana	ett bord	a table	bordet	the table
en stol	a chair	stolen	the chair	ett kök	a kitchen	köket	the kitchen
en gata	a street	gaten	the street	ett äpple	an apple	äpplet	the apple

This, that, these and those are expressed in Swedish by using den, det or de plus the word här (here) and där (there). The noun is always in the definite form after these demonstratives. And if any adjectives follow the demonstrative, they must add an -a to the ending.

6. Subject (Nominative) Pronouns

Note:  Man can be translated as one, we, they or the people in general.  When referring to nouns as it, you use den for en nouns, and det for ett nouns. Formerly, du was the informal you and ni was the formal, but these distinctions are rarely used anymore.

7. To Be and to Have

The present and past tenses of verbs in Swedish are very simple to conjugate. All the forms are the same for each personal pronoun. The infinitive of the verb to be in Swedish is vara, and the conjugated present tense form is är and the past tense is var. The infinitive of the verb to have is ha, and the conjugated present tense form is har and the past tense is hade.

8. Useful Words

sometimes	ibland	already	redan
always	alltid	perhaps	kanske
never	aldrig	both	båda
often	ofta	some	någon, något, några
usually	vanligen	again	igen, åter
now	nu	between	mellan
and	och	a lot, many	många
but	men	of course	naturligtvis
or	eller	a little	lite gran
very	mycket	not at all	inte alls
here	här	almost	nästan
there	där	really?
also	med	there is/are	det är
another		too bad

9. Question Words

10. Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers

11. Days of the Week / Veckans dagar

12. Months of the Year / Årets månader

13. Seasons

14. Directions

15. Colors

16. Time / Tid

17. Weather / Väder

18. Family / Familj

19. To Know People and Facts

 

	känna - to know people	veta - to know facts
present	känner	vet
past	kände	visste
future	ska känna	ska veta

20. Formation of Plural Nouns

An en word takes one of the following endings when it is pluralized: or, ar, er. An ett word takes an n or no ending at all.

Indefinite Plural

To form the definite plural, you must first form the indefinite plural and then add these endings to that word.

There are some nouns that change their vowel in the plural. These nouns usually take the -er ending when forming the indefinite plural.

21. Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

 

	with en words	with ett words	with plural words
my / mine	min	mitt	mina
your / yours	din	ditt	dina
his / her / its / their	sin	sitt	sina
his / his	hans	hans	hans
her / hers	hennes	hennes	hennes
its / its	dess	dess	dess
our / ours	vår	vårt	våra
your / yours	er	ert	era
their / theirs	deras	deras	deras

The same forms are used for possessive adjectives that are used directly before nouns and for possessive pronouns that replace a noun. For example, this is my car and this is mine would be translated as det här är min bil and det här är min.

Sin, sitt and sina can only be used when the third person possessive adjective refers to the subject of the same clause. These words can be translated as his, her, its or their. Generally, if you cannot insert "own" after the possessive adjective in English, you cannot use sin/sitt/sina. Sin/sitt/sina cannot be used with the subject because it is not referring to anything else.

Per besöker sin mamma. = Per visits his (own) mother. (Sin refers back to Per.)
Eva ringer hans mamma. = Eva calls his mother. (Hans refers to Per, not Eva.)

22. To Do/Make and To Become

 

	göra - to do/make	bli - to become
present	gör	blir
past	gjorde	blev
future	ska göra	ska bli

23. Work and School

actor actress author baker baker's shop bookseller bookshop businessman butcher butcher's shop pharmacist pharmacy cook customer dentist doctor employee engineer fisherman gardener hairdresser jeweler journalist

skådespelare skrifställare bagare bokhandlare boklåda slaktare apotekare apotek (n) kokerska kund tandläkare läkare ingeniör trädgårdsmästare hårfrisör juvelerare journalist

judge lawyer mechanic musician nurse official optician (eye doctor) painter photographer policeman postman priest publisher scientist shoemaker shop, store singer student surgeon tailor teacher typist workman

domare advokat montör musiker sjuksköterska ämbetsman målare fotograf polikonstapel brevbärare förläggare skomakare butik sängare kirurg skräddare lärare maskinskriverska arbetare

24. Prepositions

Prepositions of Position/Location
vid	by, at, next to	position next to something with no contact
på	on, in, at	position on something that is seen as line or surface with contact; also used with islands, addresses, and particular places, such as bank, post office, cinema, hospital, library, etc.
i	in	position in something that is seen to have volume (room, containers, etc.); also used with countries, cities, villages, etc.
hos	at the house of	used when someone is at someone else's house or place of business
Prepositions of Direction/Movement
till	to
från	from
genom	through
längs	along
över	across, over
mot	towards, to

Three exceptions to using på with particular places include school, work, and the shop: i skolan, i affären, i kyrkan.

25. Countries and Nationalities

Africa African America American Argentina Argentine Asia Asian Australia Australian Austria Austrian Belgium Belgian Brazil Brazilian Canada Canadian China Chinese Denmark Dane Egypt Egyptian England Englishman Europe European Finland Finn France Frenchman German Germany

Afrika Amerika amerikan Argentina argentinare Asien Österrike Belgien belgier Brasilien brasilianare Kina kines Danmark dansk England engelsman Europe europé Frankrike fransman Tyskland tysk

Great Britain British Greece Greek Holland Dutchman Hungary Hungarian Ireland Irishman Italy Italian Japan Japanese Norway Norwegian Poland Pole Portugal Portuguese Russia Russian Scotland Scotsman Spain Spaniard Sweden Swede Switzerland Swiss Turkey Turk United States

Storbritanien Grekland grek Holland holländare Ungern Irland irländare Italien italienare Japan japanes Norge norrman Polen polak Portugal portugis Ryssland ryss Skottland skotte Spanien spanior Sverige svensk Schweiz schweizare Turkiet Förenta Staterna

26. Negative Sentences

To make a sentence negative in Swedish, simply add inte after the verb. If there is an auxiliary verb and a main verb, inte goes between the two. In addition, if you answer "yes" to a negative question, you must use jo instead of ja.

27. Short Answers

A yes/no question can be answered with a short phrase, just as in English, except in Swedish the main verb is not usually repeated. Instead, the verb göra (to do/make) is used with the pronoun det and the subject of the question. Some verbs are not replaced by göra and are repeated in the short answer, such as vara and ha.

Ja (or Nej) + det + gör (if in present) or gjorde (if in past) + Subject + inte (if the answer is nej)

Arbetar hon här? Does she work here?
Ja, det gör hon. Yes, she does.
Nej, det gör hon inte. No, she doesn't.

Är de glad? Are they happy?
Ja, det är de. Yes, they are.
Nej, det är de inte. No, they are not.

28. To Come and To Go

 

	komma - to come	gå - to go
present	kommer	går
past	kom	gick
future	ska komma	ska gå

29. Common Auxiliary Verbs

 

	kunna - to be able to, can	vilja - to want to	få - to be allowed to	--- have to, must
present	kan	vill	får	måste
past	kunde	ville	fick	måste

	skola - have to	böra- should, ought to	bruka - usually, used to	behöva - need to
present	ska	bör	brukar	behöver
past	skulle	börde	brukade	behövde

Vi kan tala engelska. We can speak English.
Han kunde inte spela. He could not play.
Sven vill sova. Sven wants to sleep.
Hon vill ha kaffe. She wants coffee. (When vilja is followed by a noun, ha is added before the noun.)
Du får röka. You may smoke.
De måste gå hem nu. They must go home now.
Du får inte röka. You must not smoke. (Must not is translated with får inte rather than måste inte.)
Jag brukar dricka kaffee efter lunch. I usually drink coffee after lunch. (Brukar in the present tense means usually + main verb.)

30. Conjugating Regular Verbs

Infinitives in Swedish end in -a. To form the present tense of verbs, either add -r or remove the -a and add -er. The same form is used for all subject pronouns. To form the past tense, add -de to the present tense form of -ar verbs and to the stem of -er verbs (infinitive minus -a). But if the stem ends in a voiceless consonant (p, t, k, and s), then add -te instead.

 

Infinitive		Present		Past
tala	to talk	talar	talk(s)	talade	talked
öppna	to open	öppnar	open(s)	öppnade	opened
fråga	to ask	frågar	ask(s)	frågade	asked
ringa	to ring	ringer	ring(s)	ringde	rang
köpa	to buy	köper	buy(s)	köpte	bought
röka	to smoke	röker	smoke(s)	rökte	smoked

31. Reflexive Verbs

Some verbs in Swedish are reflexive verbs, in that the action by the subject is performed by itself. This is comparable to the -self or -selves pronouns used in English with some verbs, such as he behaves himself. Most of the time, verbs that are reflexive in Swedish are not reflexive in English. To conjugate these verbs, simply add these pronouns after the verb:

mig (mej)	myself	oss	ourselves
dig (dej)	yourself	er	yourselves
sig (sej)	himself/herself/itself	sig (sej)	theirselves

The forms in parentheses are used in colloquial (spoken and written) Swedish. In fact, mig, dig and sig are pronounced as if they were written mej, dej and sej.

32. Present and Past Perfect

The present and past perfect tenses consist of two parts: ha/hade and the supine form of the main verb. This is a compound tense that corresponds to has/have/had and a past participle in English. The main difference between Swedish and English in this tense, however, is that Swedish uses the supine form of the verb instead of the past participle.

To form the supine, -ar verbs add -t to the infinitive (or replace -r with -t if using the present tense);
while -er verbs replace -a with -t in the infinitive (or drop -er and add -t if using the present tense).

Infinitive	Present tense	Supine	Translation
öppna	öppnar	öppnat	opened
fråga	frågar	frågat	asked
läsa	läser	läst	read
köpa	köper	köpt	bought

Jag ha läst boken. I have read the book.
Hon hade öppnat dörren. She had opened the door.

33. Irregular Past and Supine Forms

Some -er verbs (and never -ar verbs) have irregular past and supine forms. Sometimes these involve a vowel change and lack of ending.

Infinitive	Past	Supine	Translations
binda	band	bundit	to bind / bound / bound
brinna	brann	brunnit	to burn / burned / burned
dricka	drack	druckit	to drink / drank / drunk
finna	fann	funnit	to find / found / found
försvinna	försvann	försvunnit	to disappear / disappeared / disappeared
hinna	hann	hunnit	to manage / managed / managed
rinna	rann	runnit	to run, flow / ran, flowed / run, flowed
sitta	satt	suttit	to sit / sat / sat
slippa	slapp	sluppit	to get out of / got out of / gotten out of
spricka	sprack	spruckit	to split / split / split
springa	sprang	sprungit	to run / ran / run
sticka	stack	stuckit	to stick / stuck / stuck
vinna	vann	vunnit	to win / won / won
bita	bet	bitit	to bite / bit / bitten
gripa	grep	gripit	to grip / gripped / gripped
lida	led	lidit	to suffer / suffered / suffered
rida	red	ridit	to ride / rode / ridden
skina	sken	skinit	to shine / shone / shone
skriva	skrev	skrivit	to write / wrote / written
slita	slet	slitit	to wear out / wore out / worn out
stiga	steg	stigit	to rise / rose / risen
tiga	teg	tigit	to be silent / was silent / been silent
vrid	vred	vridit	to turn / turned / turned
bjuda	bjöd	bjudit	to invite / invited / invited
ljuga	ljög	ljugit	to lie / lied / lied (to tell a lie)
sjunga	sjöng	sjungit	to sing / sang / sung
skjuta	sköt	skjutit	to shoot / shot / shot
bryta	bröt	brutit	to break / broke / broken
flyga	flög	flugit	to fly / flew / flown
flyta	flöt	flutit	to float / floated / floated
frysa	frös	frusit	to freeze / froze / frozen
knyta	knöt	knutit	to tie up / tied up / tied up
krypa	kröp	krupit	to crawl / crawled / crawled

34. Short Verbs

A few infinitives in Swedish do not end in -a. These are short verbs and they end in a long, stressed vowel. The infinitive is the same as the imperative, and the present tense is formed by adding -r. The past tense if formed by adding -dde to the infinitive, and the supine is formed by adding -tt to the infinitive. However, a few of the short verbs have an irregular form in the past.

35. Irregular Verbs

Several verbs in Swedish are considered irregular because they do not follow the rules for the different conjugations. These forms need to be memorized since these verbs are very common.

36. Food and Meals

37. Fruits and Vegetables

almond apple apple tree apricot ash bark beech berry birch blackberry branch cherry cherry tree chestnut chestnut tree currant cypress date elm fig fig tree fir fruit grapes hazelnut kernel laurel leaf lemon lime tree melon mulberry tree oak olive olive tree orange orange tree peach pear pear tree pine pineapple plum poplar raspberry root

äpple (n) äppletrad (n) aprikos ask bark bok bär (n) björk björnbär (n) gren körsbär (n) kastanje vinbär (n) alm fikon (n) gran frukt vindruva hasselnöt kärn blad (n) citron lind ek apelsin persika päron (pl) tall ananas plommon (n) poppel hallon (n) rot

strawberry tree tree trunk vine walnut walnut tree willow artichoke asparagus barley bean (broad) bean (kidney) brussel sprouts cabbage carrot cauliflower celery chives corn cucumber eggplant garlic herb horse-radish lentil lettuce maize mint mushroom oats onion parsley pea potato pumpkin radish rice rye sage seed spinach stalk tomato turnip wheat

jordgubbe träd (n) stam vinstock valnöt pil sparris korn (n) böna brysselkål kål morot blomkål gurka vitlök pepparrot lins sallad mynta svamp havre lök persilja ärta potatis rädisa ris (n) råg spenat stjälk rova hvete (n)

38. Commands

Verbs that end in -ar in the present tense simply remove the -r to form the command (imperative). Verbs that end in -er in the present tense remove the -er to form the command. You cannot form the imperative if you only know the infinitive and not if the verb takes -ar or -er in the present tense. But if you do know that an infinitive is an -ar verb, you leave the -a in the imperative, and if the infinitive is an -er verb, you remove the -a.

 

Infinitive	Imperative	Translation
öppnar	öppna!	open!
väntar	vänta!	wait!
skriver	skriv!	write!
läser	läs!	read!

39. Asking Questions

Yes/No questions: Invert the subject and verb so that the verb begins the question. In English, we use the dummy verb "do" with the main verb, but forming questions in Swedish is much simpler.

Arbetar han? Does he work?
Regnar det? Is it raining?

Question Words: The question word begins the question, and the verb comes next, followed by the subject. In English, the construction would be question word + a form of "do" + subject + main verb.

Var bor Sten? Where does Sten live?
Vad gör Elsa? What does Elsa do?

40. Holiday Phrases

	Merry Christmas!
	Happy Easter!
	Happy New Year!
	Happy Birthday!

The Swedish National Anthem:

Du gamla, du fria, du fjällhöga Nord,
Du tysta, du glädjerika sköna!
Jag hälsar dig, vänaste land uppå jord,
Din sol, din himmel, dina ängder gröna.
Din sol, din himmel, dina ängder gröna.

Du tronar på minnen från fornstora da'r,
då ärat ditt namn flög över jorden.
Jag vet att du är och du blir, vad du var.
Ja, jag vill leva, jag vill dö i Norden.
Ja, jag vill leva, jag vill dö i Norden.

You ancient, free and mountainous North,
Of quiet, joyful beauty,
I greet you, loveliest land on earth,
Your sun, your sky, your green meadows.
Your sun, your sky, your green meadows.

You are throned on memories of olden days
When the honour of your name spread over the earth.
I know that you are and will remain what you were.
Oh, may I live, may die in the Nordic North!
Oh, may I live, may die in the Nordic North!