语法
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 possession. However, if the noun already ends in -s, then you add nothing (unlike English where we add -' or -'s). Anders bok = Anders's book
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. Note that en words ending in a vowel retain that vowel and add an -n instead of adding -en. And ett words ending in -e just add a -t.
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 gatan 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.
with en words with ett words with plural words
this / these den här biljetten - this ticket det här tåget - this train de här biljetterna - these tickets
that / those den där biljetten - that ticket det där tåget - that train de där tågen - those trains
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
En words that end in -a
drop -a and add -or
en klocka - klockor
a watch - (some) watches
En words that end in -e
drop -e and add -ar
en pojke - pojkar
a boy - (some) boys
En words with stress on last vowel
add -er
en kamrat - kamrater
a friend - (some) friends
Ett words that end in a vowel
add -n
ett ställe - ställen
a place - (some) places
Ett words that end in a consonant
no ending
ett rum - rum
a room - (some) rooms
To form the definite plural, you must first form the indefinite plural and then add these endings to that word.
Indef. Plural En words add -na klockor - klockorna (some) watches - the watches
Indef. Plural Ett words that end in a vowel add -a ställen - ställena (some) places - the places
Indef. Plural Ett words that end in a consonant add -en rum - rummen (some) rooms - the rooms
There are some nouns that change their vowel in the plural. These nouns usually take the -er ending when forming the indefinite plural.
en natt - nätter a night - nights en bonde - bönder a farmer - farmers
en stad - städer a town - towns en ledamot - ledamöter a member - members
en hand - händer a hand - hands en fot - fötter a foot - feet
en tand - tänder
a tooth - teeth en rot - rötter a root - roots
en strand - stränder a beach - beaches en bok - böcker a book - books
en rand - ränder a stripe - stripes en man - män a man - men
ett land - länder a country - countries mannen - männen the man - the men
Subject (Nominative) Pronouns
Subject Pronouns
jag
yah
I
vi
vee
we du
doo
you (singular)
ni
nee
you (plural) han
hahn
he
de
dahm
they honhohnshe
dendenit (with en words)
detdehit (with ett words)
manmahnone
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.
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.)
