Basics 2

LESSON 1
vi, lser, ni, kvinnor, tidning, de, mn
LESSON 2
flickor, pojkar, du, smrgs, ris, barn, mjlk
LESSON 3
bok, meny, det, har, pojken, flickan, barnet, brev

Tips and notes

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 orneutrum).

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

Introducing new stuff with det r

In Swedish, when we start talking about something new, or point out what something is, we
use the construction det r. It is a lot like it is in English, but there's an important difference:
the Swedish construction never changes. We use it for ett words and enwords, for people and
for plural objects, and it's always det r. So we say:
Det r ett pple It is an apple
Det r en bok It is a book
Det r en flicka It is a girl
Det r tidningar They are newspapers

Read more about this construction here:https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9708920

This and that in Swedish

You're going to learn about this more in depth later, but in case you wonder if you couldn't just
say this or that when we say det r, here's the deal:

There are two ways to say this in Swedish: either det hr/den hr or detta/denna.
The Swedish counterpart to that is det dr/den dr, but sometimes you can also
use det/den to mean that.
Those words are taught a little later in the course so you don't need to worry about them just
yet, but just in case you were wondering.

Common Phrases

LESSON 1
hej, tack, ja, nej, d, s, mycket
LESSON 2
varsgod, urskta, hall, snlla, vlkommen, god, natt, morgon
LESSON 3
talar, svenska, engelska, inte, lskar, tycker, om

Tips and notes

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

I speak -ska
Nope, Swedes dont 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

SverigeSweden svensk(t)swedish en svensk a Swede svenska Swedish

(language)

EnglandEngland engelsk(t)English en engelsman an engelska English

Englishman (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.

Food

LESSON 1
fisk, apelsin, kaffe, gg, kyckling, dryck, middag, vin
LESSON 2
socker, lunch, frukost, ost, frukt, pasta, mat
LESSON 3
l, ntktt, soppa, tomat, jordgubbe, citron, peppar, salt
LESSON 4
olja, mltid, te, flskktt, vegetarian, ktt, glass, juice
LESSON 5
pplet, glas, gaffel, kniv, sked, kopp, tallrik, restaurangerna, kock

Tips and notes

A GLASS AND GLASS-THE

Swedish uses two separate indefinite articles, both equivalent to the English a(n), enand 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

Animals

LESSON 1
katt, hund, hst, fgeln, fgel, katten, hunden, hsten
LESSON 2
bjrn, lg, djuret, bjrnen, lgen, anka, djur
LESSON 3
spindel, krabba, skldpadda, elefant, ankan, skldpaddan, elefanten
LESSON 4
vargen, ren, mus, krabban, myra, spindeln

Tips and notes

Fgeln och spindeln

Hmm... did you spot the definite article at the end? Looks a bit strange, doesn't it? One would
have expected "fgelen" 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
Indefinite Definite

en fgel a bird fgeln the bird

en spindel a spider spindeln the spider

A Mse 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 lg, lgen in the singular, and in the plural: lgar,
lgarna.
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

Definite forms

LESSON 1
smrgsen, kaffet, vinet, frukten, kttet, teet, let, vattnet
LESSON 2
apelsinen, gget, kycklingen, sockret, saltet, osten, soppan
LESSON 3
lunchen, frukosten, riset, ntkttet, vegetarian, maten, pastan
LESSON 4
jordgubben, citronen, pepparn, oljan, fisken, flskkttet, tomaten
LESSON 5
glassen, tidningen, boken, brevet, brdet, mltiden
 Tips and notes

Indefinite and definite singular

All Swedish words are divided into two groups: en-words (or utrum) and ett-
words (orneutrum). 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
Have a look at the ending, many endings take the same article (e.g. a , ing and
het are always en-words)
One common exception is ett barn a child
The only exceptions are ett ga, ett ra and ett hjrta.

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

Indefinite Definite

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!

Plurals

LESSON 1
pplen, bcker, tidningar, katter, hundar, hstar, flera, brev
LESSON 2
ankor, skldpaddor, djur, fglar, tallrikar, smrgsar, elefanter, barn
LESSON 3
pplena, tidningarna, katterna, hundarna, elefanterna, mnnen, kockar, kvinnorna
LESSON 4
ankorna, skldpaddorna, djuren, fglarna, tallrikarna, smrgsarna, hstarna, bckerna
LESSON 5
kockarna, breven, lgarna, jordgubbarna, fiskarna, flickorna, pojkarna, barnen

Tips and notes

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 lkare lkare

-ing -ingar
en tidning tidningar

Words with stress on the final syllable always take -er.

en elefant elefanter
en station stationer
en id ider

Words ending in -el, --er and -en usually take -ar, losing their e in the process.
en fgel fglar
en vinter vintrar

One-syllable words can take either -ar or -er, usually the former.
en hund hundar
en frg frger
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 mn
en mus mss
en hand hnder
en bok bcker

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. pplen apples

Possessives

LESSON 1
vr, hans, hennes, min, mitt, deras, din
LESSON 2
ditt, er, vrt, ert, mina, dina, dess
LESSON 3
sin, sitt, sina, era, vra
LESSON 4
man, kvinna, katt, pojkarnas, flicka
LESSON 5
restaurang, hundens, barns, kockarnas

Tips and notes

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 know, 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 Vr vrt vra

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 Marias 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 its the subjects.
Example

Annika kysser sin Puh, we can rest reassured, no conflict (Swedes are very
man Annika kisses her afraid of conflicts) because sin tells us its the subjects
husband (i.e Annikas) husband.

Annika kysser hennes Oh, oh we have a problem this means that Annika is
man Annika kisses her kissing not her own husband but her (i.e Marias)
husband 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

Pronouns objective

LESSON 1
henne, dem, honom, mig, dig
LESSON 2
det, den, er, oss

Tips and notes

Pronouns and pronounciation

By now, you have already learnt the subject pronouns. In this lesson you will learn the
objective forms. Pronouns are used a lot which might explain why not all of them are
pronounced the way they are spelt. In very informal Swedish you might even find these
pronouns written as they actually are pronounced, as in the brackets (crazy, right!).
Subject Object

jag [ja] I mig [mej] me

du you dig [dej] you

han he honom him

hon she henne her

den it den it

det [de] it det [de] it

vi we oss us

ni you er you

de [dom] they dem [dom] them

How do you know which it to use? If it refers back to a word in a preceding sentence,
you use den to replace en-words and det to replace ett-words. If it does not refer to a
preceding word (as in It is raining today), we always use det (which would be Det regnar i
dag). We also use "det" in the phrase "there is/are" (which would be "Det finns" in Swedish).

Clothing

LESSON 1
skor, p, klnning, jackorna, kjolarna, trjorna, sig
LESSON 2
strumpa, byxor, klderna, kostymerna, hattarna, skjortor
LESSON 3
skrp, handske, slipsen, ficka, knapp, halsduk, rock

Tips and notes

Wearing clothes
The most common way of saying that someone wears clothes in Swedish is har p sig
This is a reflexive particle verb. This means that the stress is always on p, 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 p mig

du har p dig
han/hon har p sig
vi har p oss
ni har p er
de har p sig

Verbs: Present

LESSON 1
ser, kommer, simmar, skriver, sjunger, vljer, gr, hoppar
LESSON 2
lagar, sover, springer, ker, regnar, hr, sljer
LESSON 3
betalar, vill, hittar, arbetar, ritar, ha, kper
LESSON 4
anvnder, visar, leker, skrattar, grter, tvttar, lyssnar
LESSON 5
str, pratar, flyger, finns, tar, stttar, sitter

Tips and notes

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

sljer 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

gr 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

Colors

LESSON 1
vit, rosa, svart, vita, vitt, svarta
LESSON 2
orange, rd, bl, gula, frg
LESSON 3
lila, gr, brunt, grnt, gyllene, frgglad

Questions

LESSON 1
vad, hur, vem, vems, varfr, vart, var, mnga
LESSON 2
nr, frgor, svaren, gr, ingen, inget, inga, frstr
LESSON 3
svarar, frgar, vet, vilken, vilka, vilket, jo

Tips and notes

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

Varfr why

Vem who

Vems whose

Nr when

vilken/vilket/vilka which

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

Swedish English

Vad gr du? What are you doing?

Var r du? Where are you?

Vems hund r 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 r du? (Where are you?)

Vart gr 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 useto
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!

Prepositions

LESSON 1
frn, i, p, vid, av, mellan
LESSON 2
fr, utan, med, genom, till, enligt
LESSON 3
efter, under, ver, utanfr, framfr, bredvid
LESSON 4
mot, framt, hos, fre, bakom, t

Tips and notes

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:

-pplet r p bordet. (The apple is on the table.)

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

But sometimes the translations don't match at all:

-Jag r p 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!

Conjunctions

LESSON 1
om, eller, men, nr, helst, som
LESSON 2
drfr, eftersom, att, utan, medan, innan

Tips and notes

Conjunctions
A conjunction is a small word used to link sentences together. English examples
areand, 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 ta 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 r hr. I know that you are here.

Jag ter maten eftersom den r 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 r hr vet jag . That you are here, I know.
Eftersom den r god ter jag maten. Because it is good, I eat the food.

NB: The conjunction drfr att can never start a sentence, in such cases we
useeftersom instead.

Time

LESSON 1
tid, eftermiddagen, dag, kvll, morgon, natt, om, timmar
LESSON 2
mndagar, morgon, dagarna, natt, tisdag, onsdagen, fredag, kalendrar
LESSON 3
lrdag, sndag, ret, vecka, lder, helgen, torsdag, mnaderna
LESSON 4
januari, februari, mars, april, datum, maj, juni
LESSON 5
juli, september, augusti, oktober, november, december, vardag
LESSON 6
rstider, vr, vinter, sommar, hst, minut, midsommar
LESSON 7
gonblick, fdd, rtionde, sekund, stund, rhundradets, perioden
LESSON 8
tills, frrn, kvart, generationer, dygn, halvr, fest

Family

LESSON 1
pappa, mamma, dotter, syster, systrars, bror, brder, son
LESSON 2
familj, frldrar, fru, syskon, faster, brllop, farbrors, heter
LESSON 3
mormor, farfar, mor, far, farmor, morfars, kusin, tvilling
LESSON 4
moster, morbrder, mor, far, barnbarn, sner, dttrar, svrdotter

Tips and notes

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

Occupations

LESSON 1
student, lkare, arbete, frfattare, modellerna, jobb, personalen
LESSON 2
polis, tolkarna, advokaterna, karrir, artist, sekreterare, arbetare
LESSON 3
professionell, domare, brandmn, piloterna, vakterna, skdespelare, skdespelerskorna
LESSON 4
chef, soldaten, yrke, bnderna, arkitekt, ingenjr, prst

Tips and notes

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 r lkare., without the article.

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

Han r clown = He works as a clown. (it is his job)

Han r 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 r en bra lkare = She is a good doctor.

Adjectives 1

LESSON 1
stort, lngt, trtt, liten, lilla, litet, lille, sm
LESSON 2
eget, lnga, egen, ppen, ppna, bra, kallt, varm
LESSON 3
rent, smutsiga, vnstra, nya, gammal, gammalt, gamla, nsta
LESSON 4
populra, viktigt, fin, mjligt, samme, olik, likt, hel
LESSON 5
ndvndigt, sista, privat, personligt, officiella, sjlvstndiga, konstiga, dligt
LESSON 6
vackert, utmrkt, perfekt, modernt, fulla, tomma, fult, dyrt
LESSON 7
intressanta, historiska, religis, fel, allvarligt, snygge, riktigt, ledsen
LESSON 8
bermda, omjligt, effektiv, srskild, vegetarisk, traditionell, rika
LESSON 9
rdda, vanliga, ovanliga, bekvmt, jttesnygg, vrdefull, tvsprkig

Tips and notes

ADJECTIVES
In English, adjectives never change their form. In Swedish however, they change all the
timein 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 its singular or plural, and whether its 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 - (i.e. nothing at all), meaning the adjective is identical to
the basic form:
en stor fisk, en gul bil, en snll hund.

For singular ett-words, the suffix -t is added to the basic form:

ett stort hus, ett gult bord, ett snllt meddelande.

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

- -t -a

stor Stort stora

gul Gult gula

snll Snllt snlla

Definite forms
If the noun is definite, the adjective takes the ending -a in all cases, no matter gender or
number. Whats 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 isden for
singular en-words, det for singular ett-words, and de for plural words (note thatde is
pronounced as dom).

en stor fisk den stora fisken

ett gult bord det gula bordet
snlla hundar de snlla hundarna

This article is mandatorythe only time it isnt used is in proper names and epithets:Svarta
Havet the Black Sea, Rda 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 snlla 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) snlla (det) snlla (de) snlla

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, ppen eget, ppet egna, ppna

fri, ny fritt, nytt fria, nya

rd, glad rtt, glatt rda, glada

hrd, stngd hrt, stngt hrda, stngda

skalad, lskad skalat, lskat skalade, lskade

trtt, rtt trtt, rtt trtta, rtta

tyst, exakt tyst, exakt tysta, exakta

sann, tunn sant, tunt sanna, tunna

dum, lngsam (short vowel) dumt, lngsamt dumma, lngsamma

Singular en Singular ett Plural/Definite

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 frmmande film, ett frmmande hus, frmmande personer

den frmmande filmen, det frmmande huset, de frmmande personerna

A couple of adjectives have irregular forms:

en liten pojke, ett litet hus, sm katter

den lille/lilla pojken, det lilla huset, de sm katterna

en gammal man, ett gammalt hus, gamla katter

den gamle/gamla mannen, det gamla huset, de gamla katterna

Verbs: Present 2

LESSON 1
ppnar, ger, tnker, ringer, rddar, ut, studerar, hller, lever
LESSON 2
tittar, bjuder, hinner, frsker, presenterar, behver, ligger, bor
LESSON 3
fr, stmmer, knner, slutar, kysser, nskar, lr, orkar
LESSON 4
letar, passerar, tror, hjlper, rcker, dr, fljer, tackar
LESSON 5
verkar, kramar, sger, fryser, vilar, brjar, stannar, litar, undrar
Adverbs 1

LESSON 1
ocks, fr, lngt, nu, dr, mer, vldigt, vanligt
LESSON 2
aldrig, hr, ganska, alltid, fortfarande, ofta, bara, kanske
LESSON 3
ens, bde, till och med, nd, bort, sllan, igen, ibland
LESSON 4
verkligen, egentligen, n, redan, tminstone, borta, hit
LESSON 5
senare, snart, slut, tillrckligt, vanligtvis, dit, nrvarande
LESSON 6
srskilt, nstan, sent, ntligen, allmnhet, faktiskt, helt
LESSON 7
ungefr, precis, tydligt, var, mjligtvis, nra, definitivt
LESSON 8
varken, heller, lngsamt, tillsammans, ndvndigtvis, troligtvis, absolut

Tips and notes

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 asvery).

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
snll snllt 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 ter hemma. You eat at home.

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

Huset r mycket bltt. The house is very blue.

Jag r lyckligt gift. I am happily married.
Han r aldrig hemma. He is never at home.

Places

LESSON 1
huset, hotell, badrummet, kk, sverige, strand, strnderna
LESSON 2
flygplatsen, vgen, kyrkan, plats, stad, landet, finland
LESSON 3
hem, lngs, gatorna, lnder, stder, slott, trdgrd
LESSON 4
adressen, avdelning, rummen, marknaderna, park, kontor, omrdet
LESSON 5
bankerna, , sjn, barerna, centrum, regionerna, bastu
LESSON 6
marker, dalar, museerna, kusterna, insidan, skog, byggnader
LESSON 7
hrnet, grnserna, torn, bion, all, egendom, affrerna
LESSON 8
fngelse, palats, huvudstderna, hamnen, hger, fabrikerna, torg
LESSON 9
vster, njesfltet, bondgrdarna, vstkusten, norra, framsidan, toaletten

Objects

LESSON 1
bordet, sngarna, fnstret, stolarna, flaska, mbel
LESSON 2
tv, dator, radion, spegel, klockan, mobil, drr
LESSON 3
sofforna, korg, lamporna, tvl, skrivbord, batterier, flagga
LESSON 4
lakan, ldorna, skrmen, rakhyvlarna, plnbok, vskorna, vgg
LESSON 5
tandkrmen, vning, golven, paraply, sak, leksak
LESSON 6
tak, skpet, nycklarna, hjul, telefonen, pengar
LESSON 7
saxen, papper, stekpannan, poolen, tcke, kudde
LESSON 8
motorer, maskin, freml, bit, snret, hylla
LESSON 9
kedja, roman, kam, pulvret, duk, handduk
LESSON 10
tandborste, kastrullerna, garderob, matta, gardinerna, tyg, sklen

People

LESSON 1
personer, vn, pojkvn, flickvn, spdbarnet, fiende, allmnheten, gst
LESSON 2
mnniskor, ungdomarna, befolkning, kulturer, kommitt, killen, konferensen, tjej
LESSON 3
byarna, paret, dam, medborgare, folket, frhllande, offrets, individ
LESSON 4
viking, kung, drottningen, prins, prinsessan, kronprinsessan, vuxen

Travel

LESSON 1
reser, bil, cykel, motorcykel, resvska, buss, tg
LESSON 2
btarna, flygplan, kr, guiden, ryggsck, besk, svensk
LESSON 3
engelska, finska, kartan, skeppet, norden, fordonet, semester
LESSON 4
danmark, resa, norges, skandinavien, bron, plan, ventyret, biljetterna
LESSON 5
finlandssvenskar, tunnelbana, stockholm, island, turist, tyska, tysklands, amerika
LESSON 6
europa, kinas, utomlands, sdra, finlndsk, norrmnnen, dansk, hllplats
LESSON 7
kinesisk, internationell, amerikansk, europeiska, runt, svnger, pass

Determiners

LESSON 1
denna, detta, hr, dessa, man, ngon, ngot, ngra
LESSON 2
ingenting, alla, den, allting, ngonting, varje, utom
LESSON 3
bda, annan, andra, annat, sdant, vem, varandra
LESSON 4
bde, ingendera, antingen, ingen, frra, frrfrra, sjlv

Tips and notes

Detta? Det hr? What's this?

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

First, there is den hr, det hr, de hr. (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 hr/det hr/de hr 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 hr/det hr/de hr

denna bok den hr boken

detta hus det hr huset

dessa bcker de hr bckerna

dessa hus de hr husen

Ngon, ngot, and ngra? 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 ngon bok (any/some book), ngot hus (any/some
house) and ngra stenar (some/any/a few stones).

Furthermore, when used on their own as pronouns,

ngon means someone or anyone.

ngot means something or anything.

ngra means someones (plural of someone/something) or anyones (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 ngonting in Swedish. It means just the same asngot, but
it's a bit more colloquial.

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 mjlk/mjlken "all (the) milk", en-word

Allt smr/smret "all (the) butter", ett-word

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

Just like ngon/ngot/ngra, they can also be used on their own as pronouns, in which case:

alla means everyone.

allt means everything.

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

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

Determiners

LESSON 1
denna, detta, hr, dessa, man, ngon, ngot, ngra
LESSON 2
ingenting, alla, den, allting, ngonting, varje, utom
LESSON 3
bda, annan, andra, annat, sdant, vem, varandra
LESSON 4
bde, ingendera, antingen, ingen, frra, frrfrra, sjlv

Tips and notes

Detta? Det hr? What's this?

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

First, there is den hr, det hr, de hr. (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 hr/det hr/de hr 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 hr/det hr/de hr

denna bok den hr boken

detta hus det hr huset

dessa bcker de hr bckerna

dessa hus de hr husen

Ngon, ngot, and ngra? 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 ngon bok (any/some book), ngot hus (any/some
house) and ngra stenar (some/any/a few stones).

Furthermore, when used on their own as pronouns,

ngon means someone or anyone.

ngot means something or anything.

ngra means someones (plural of someone/something) or anyones (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 ngonting in Swedish. It means just the same asngot, but
it's a bit more colloquial.

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 mjlk/mjlken "all (the) milk", en-word

Allt smr/smret "all (the) butter", ett-word

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

Just like ngon/ngot/ngra, they can also be used on their own as pronouns, in which case:

alla means everyone.

allt means everything.

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

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

Numbers

LESSON 1
ett, tv, tre, fyra, fem, nummer, telefonnummer, fler
LESSON 2
sex, sju, tta, nio, tio, gng, mindre, till
LESSON 3
frst, miljon, andra, tredje, mngder, antal, stycken, siffra
LESSON 4
elva, tolv, tretton, fjorton, femton, sexton, sjutton, summa
LESSON 5
arton, nitton, tjugo, trettio, fyrtio, femtio, sextio, halv
LESSON 6
sjuttio, ttio, nittio, hundra, tusen, kostar, krona, per
LESSON 7
fjrde, meter, tjugofyra, vrda, tjugoen, genomsnittet, tjugofem
LESSON 8
hlften, hundratals, majoriteten, plus, dubbel, femte, sjtte
LESSON 9
sjunde, ttonde, nionde, nittonhundratalet, sammanlagt, tusentals

Verbs: Present 3

LESSON 1
respekterar, stller, innehller, mter, blir, rknar, klipper, m
LESSON 2
saknar, missar, lgger, liknar, hyr, fyller, tappar, anser
LESSON 3
tillverkar, blandar, torkar, bokar, fortstter, bygger, vntar
LESSON 4
hnger, importerar, tillbringar, berttar, lmnar, undervisar, tillhr
LESSON 5
antar, hatar, fungerar, skickar, delar, frklarar, passar
LESSON 6
serverar, stnger, besker, vinner, skr, ber, frlorar, angr
LESSON 7
med, upp, dyker, fram, lgger till, under
LESSON 8
hoppas, misslyckas, lyckas, fattas, trivs, minns, ses, trffas, knns
LESSON 9
skyndar, knner, lr, gifter, frbereder, verraskar
LESSON 10
tar med sig, har, av, bryr sig om, p, delar med sig

Tips and notes

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 Stng 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'.
Whilehller on its own means just holds, hller med means 'agrees'.
In negated phrases, inte comes between the verb and the particle: Don't turn off the radio! will
be Stng 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 constructionDet
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 knner dig ('I know you') Det knns 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 lr either you learn 'yourself', or you
teach someone else:
Jag lr mig svenska 'I am learning Swedish'
Du lr dig svenska 'You are learning Swedish'
etc, or:
Jag lr dig svenska 'I am teaching you Swedish'
Du lr 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?'

Education

LESSON 1
lraren, utbildning, skola, penna, anteckning, lektionen, elev, rast
LESSON 2
kursen, biblioteket, prov, anskning, exempel, studien, svrt, uppsats
LESSON 3
ord, kapitel, kunskaper, vning, iderna, klasser, universitet, trots
LESSON 4
professorns, frelsningarna, frklaring, presentation, hgskola, svrigheterna, lxa
LESSON 5
historia, ml, sidor, dokumenten, rapporterna, undervisning, betyder

Verbs: Past

LESSON 1
t, drack, talade, var, gick, kte, pratade, i gr
LESSON 2
tyckte, lskade, regnade, ville, sg, simmade, kom, tappade
LESSON 3
lekte, hrde, sade, lyssnade, hade, nyligen, arbetade, lagade
LESSON 4
gjorde, hittade, lmnade, berttade, lade, stllde, tackade, frrgr
LESSON 5
ringde, tog, tnkte, skrev, trodde, frlorade, stngde
LESSON 6
gav, dog, stttade, svngde, sprang, fick, slde
LESSON 7
tittade, knde, visste, letade, behll, tillbaka, hll
LESSON 8
vann, visade, kpte, betalade, hnde, presenterade, innehll
LESSON 9
ppnade, verkade, frklarade, svarade, frgade, dk, fanns
LESSON 10
stannade, bodde, vntade, sov, vilade, litade, morse

Tips and notes

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

Simmer Simmade swam, was/were swimming

ppnar ppnade 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

Hller Hllde poured, was/were pouring

Present tense Past Tense English

Ringer Ringed phoned, was/were phoning

Laser Lste read, was/were reading

Kper Kpte bought, was/were buying

Hr Horde 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 -dein the
past tense. Unfortunately, if you see hr you can't see that it is an er-verb, but if you
see hrde you immediately know it is a regular er-verb and that it's present form must
be hr (only regular er-verbs have a past tense in -de).

R-VERBS

Present tense Past Tense English

Tror Trodde believed, was/were believing

Bor Bode lived, was/were living

Klr Kldde 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 Sg saw, was/were seeing

Present tense Past Tense English

r 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, sg-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.

Verbs: Infinitive 1

LESSON 1
brukar, skriva, simma, vara, g, bli, se
LESSON 2
leka, sova, springa, tycka, laga, betala, vilja
LESSON 3
tala, gra, anvnda, ka, rita, bestmma
LESSON 4
stnga, hyra, regna, hra, lyssna, sga, ta
LESSON 5
bertta, f, hitta, trna, hjlpa, minnas, stanna
LESSON 6
arbeta, kpa, veta, ta, behva, tvtta, sjunga
LESSON 7
visa, ppna, tnka, tro, ringa, hlla, fnga
LESSON 8
ge, studera, lra, komma, titta, bo, brja
LESSON 9
slja, frska, frga, fortstta, lsa, be, svara

Tips and notes

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 infintive 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 kra en bil. (I want to drive a car)

Jag mste g 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 kra bil. (I like driving [a car])

Jag hatar att stda. (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.

-Lt alla blommor blomma. (Let all flowers bloom) -Vi sg 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, msteand 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 brja, sluta,besluta, lra, lra sig.

Geography

LESSON 1
gteborg, malm, nordamerika, stersjn, land, sydamerika, kpenhamn, helsingfors
LESSON 2
ster, samer, samisk, frankrikes, fransk, greklands, spaniens, italien
LESSON 3
rom, sterrike, storbritanniens, ryssland, nederlnderna, brasiliens, rysk, polen

Verbs: Past 2

LESSON 1
stod, frstod, rckte, brjade, frskte, bestmde, slutade, antog
LESSON 2
satt, lg, hjlpte, lrde, anvnde, fljde, lste, behvde
LESSON 3
liknade, hyrde, torkade, kunde, hngde, levde, valde, glmde
LESSON 4
lt, mindes, kndes, hette, blev, hamnade, brukade, krde
LESSON 5
sjng, flg, bjd, fll, hoppades, nittiotalet, sjuttiotalet