Swedish Subject and Object Pronouns
jag | I | mig (mej) | me |
du | you (singular) | dig (dej) | you |
han | he | honom | him |
hon | she | henne | her |
den | it (with en words) | den | it |
det | it (with ett words) | det | it |
man | one | en | one |
vi | we | oss | us |
ni | you (plural) | er | you |
de (dom) | they | dem (dom) | them |
Swedish 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 bookSwedish 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 (common)
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Ett words (neuter)
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Indefinite
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Definite
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Indefinite
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Definite
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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 |
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 |
Swedish Verbs to Be & to Have
The presnt 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.
att vara – to be
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att ha – to have
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I am | jag är | I was | jag var | I have | jag har | I had | jag hade |
you are | du är | you were | du var | you have | du har | you had | du hade |
he is | han är | he was | han var | he has | han har | he had | han hade |
she is | hon är | she was | hon var | she has | hon har | she had | hon hade |
it is | den är | it was | den var | it has | den har | it had | den hade |
it is | det är | it was | det var | it has | det har | it had | det hade |
one is | man är | one was | man var | one has | man har | one had | man hade |
we are | vi är | we were | vi var | we have | vi har | we had | vi hade |
you are | ni är | you were | ni var | you have | ni har | you had | ni hade |
they are | de är | they were | de var | they have | de har | they had | de hade |
To form the future tense of verbs, just add ska before the infinitive. Jag ska vara = I will be; hon ska ha = she will have; etc.
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