Swedish Pronouns

Learning the Swedish Pronouns displayed below is vital to the language. Swedish pronouns include personal pronouns (refer to the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or the persons or things spoken about), indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns (connect parts of sentences) and reciprocal or reflexive pronouns (in which the object of a verb is being acted on by verb’s subject). Here are some examples:

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

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. The forms in parentheses are the informal ways of spelling these words, which is closer to the actual pronunciation.ersonal pronouns, indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, reciprocal or reflexive pronouns have a very important role in Swedish. Once you’re done with Swedish Pronouns, you might want to check the rest of our Swedish lessons here: Learn Swedish. Don’t forget to bookmark this page.

Swedish Pronouns

Learning the Swedish Pronouns displayed below is vital to the language. Swedish pronouns include personal pronouns (refer to the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or the persons or things spoken about), indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns (connect parts of sentences) and reciprocal or reflexive pronouns (in which the object of a verb is being acted on by verb’s subject). Here are some examples:

English Pronouns	Swedish Pronouns
Pronouns	Pronomen
I	jag
you	du
he	han
she	hon
we	vi
they	de/dom
me	mig
you	du
him	honom
her	hennes
us	oss
them	dem/dom
my	min
your	din
his	hans
her	hennes
our	vår
their	deras
mine	min
yours	din
his	hans
hers	hennes
ours	vår
theirs	deras

Notice the structure of the Pronouns in Swedish.

List of Pronouns in Swedish

Below is a list of the Personal pronouns, indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, reciprocal or reflexive pronouns in Swedish placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Swedish vocabulary.

English Pronouns	Swedish Pronouns
I speak	jag talar
you speak	du talar
he speaks	han talar
she speaks	hon talar
we speak	vi talar
they speak	de talar
give me	ge mig
give you	ge dig
give him	ge honom
give her	ge henne
give us	ge oss
give them	ge dem
my book	min bok
your book	din bok
his book	hans bok
her book	hennes bok
our book	vår bok
their book	deras bok

Personal pronouns, indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, reciprocal or reflexive pronouns have a very important role in Swedish. Once you’re done with Swedish Pronouns, you might want to check the rest of our Swedish lessons here. Swedish Lessons]]>

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 book

Swedish 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)				Ett words (neuter)
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

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				att ha – to have
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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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 Subject and Object Pronouns

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. The forms in parentheses are the informal ways of spelling these words, which is closer to the actual pronunciation.]]>

Swedish Nouns, Articles, and Demonstratives

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 book

Swedish 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)				Ett words (neuter)
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

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Swedish Numbers

0	noll	[nɔl:]
1	Ett	[et:]
2	Två	[tvo:]
3	Tre	[tre:]
4	Fyra	[fy:ra]
5	Fem	[fem]
6	Sex	[Sek:s]
7	Sju	[ɧu:]
8	Åtta	[ɔtta]
9	Nio	[ni:ʊ]
10	Tio	[ti:ʊ]
11	Elva	[elva]
12	Tolv	[tɔlv]
13	Tretton	[trettɔn]
14	Fjorton	[fju:ʈɔn]
15	Femton	[femtɔn]
16	Sexton	[sekstɔn]
17	Sjutton	[ɧɵttɔn]
18	Arton	[aʈɔn]
19	Nitton	[nittɔn]
20	Tjugo	[ɕʉ̟:gɔ]
21	Tjugoett	[ɕʉ̟:gɔet:]
22	Tjugotvå	[ɕʉ̟:gɔtvo:]
30	Trettio	[trettiʊ]
40	Fyrtio	[fʏʈiʊ]
50	Femtio	[femtiʊ]
60	Sextio	[sekstiʊ]
70	Sjuttio	[ɧɵttiʊ]
71	Sjuttioett	[ɧɵttiʊet:]
79	Sjuttionio	[ɧɵttiʊni:ʊ]
80	Åttio	[ɔttiʊ]
81	Åttioett	[ɔttiʊet:]
89	Åttionio	[ɔttiʊtvo]
90	Nittio	[nittiʊ]
91	Nittioett	[nittiʊet:]
99	Nittionio	[nittiʊni ʊ]
100	Hundra	[hɵndra]

Names of European Countries in Swedish

Svenska — Engelska Albanien — Albania Belgien — Belgium England — England Frankrike — France Irland — Ireland Island — Iceland Italien — Italy Kroatien — Croatia Nordirland — Northern Ireland Österrike — Austria Polen — Poland Portugal — Portugal Rumänien — Romania Ryssland — Russia Schweiz — Switzerland Slovakien — Slovakia Spanien — Spain Sverige — Sweden Tjeckien — Czech Republic Turkiet — Turkey Tyskland — Germany Ukraina — Ukraine Ungern — Hungary Wales — Wales

Body parts in Swedish

ett huvud (a head)	huvudet (the head)	huvuden* (heads)	huvudena* (the heads)
hår (hair)	håret (the hair)	n/a	n/a
ett öra (an ear)	örat (the ear)	öron (ears)	öronen (the ears)
ett ansikte (a face)	ansiktet (the face)	ansikten (faces)	ansiktena (the faces)
ett öga (an eye)	ögat (the eye)	ögon (eyes)	ögonen (the eyes)
ett ögonbryn (an eyebrow)	ögonbrynet (the eyebrow)	ögonbryn(eyebrows)	ögonbrynen (the eyebrows)
en näsa (a nose)	näsan (the nose)	näsor (noses)	näsorna (the noses)
en mun (a mouth)	munnen (the mouth)	munnar (mouths)	munnarna (the mouths)
en läpp (a lip)	läppen (the lip)	läppar (lips)	läpparna (the lips)
en kind (a cheek)	kinden (the cheek)	kinder (cheeks)	kinderna (the cheeks)
en hals (a neck**)	halsen (the neck)	halsar (necks)	halsarna (the necks)
en haka (a chin)	hakan (the chin)	hakor (chins)	hakorna (the chins)
en nacke (a nape)	nacken (the nape)	nackar (napes)	nackarna (the napes)

Swedish Days of the week:

måndag – Monday tisdag – Tuesday onsdag – Wednesday torsdag – Thursday fredag – Friday lördag – Saturday söndag – Sunday In that order! The Swedish week, like in most of Europe, starts with Monday, not Sunday. Also noteworthy is the fact that all days of the week are common gender (-n-gender), following the gender of dag “day”, and that they are not inherently capitalized. So, first of all, each day of the week can be used as an ordinary noun. For example: Fredag är den bästa dagen i veckan. – Friday is the best day of the week. If you want to talk about your plans for this Friday or “on Friday”, use the preposition på: Jag och Elina ska ut och festa på fredag. – Elina and I are going out to party on Friday. What about next Friday? Just like in English, you don’t use a preposition; just nästa “next” and the day of the week: Vi ska upp till Örnsköldsvik nästa fredag. – We’re going up to Örnsköldsvik next Friday. Now to the past. How do we talk about last Friday? Unlike in English, we don’t say *sista fredag “last Friday”; the Swedes say “in Friday’s”. It may sound weird to non-Swedes, but in Swedish it’s totally normal: Min svärmor lagade middag till oss i fredags. – My mother-in-law made dinner for us last Friday (this past Friday). The formula for last Friday is this: i + [day of the week]+-s → i måndags, i onsdags, etc. Next, if you want to say the Friday before last, you can say förra fredagen. Note that fredagen is in definite form – i.e., “the Friday”: Petter hade sin första konsert förra fredagen. – Petter had his first concert the Friday before last. Finally, if you’re talking about a week somewhere in the distant past or distant future, you say på fredagen “on the Friday”. Take a look: Jag åkte till Malmö en vecka förra året. På onsdagen såg jag Turning Torso, och på torsdagen åt jag skånsk äggakaka. I went to Malmö for a week last year. On the Wednesday I saw Turning Torso (see the image above), and on the Thursday I ate Scanian egg cake.  ]]>

Swedish is easy to learn                  Swedish is a North Germanic language with around 9 million speakers mainly in Sweden and Finland, and also in Estonia, Norway, Canada and the USA. It is closely related to Norwegian and Danish and is mutually intelligible with them to a large extent, particularly in its written form. Swedish alphabet (svenska alfabetet)

A a	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j
a	be	se	de	e	eff	ge	hå	i	ji
K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	T t
kå	ell	em	en	o	pe	ku	ärr	ess	te
U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z	Å å	Ä ä	Ö ö
u	ve	dubbel-ve	eks	y	säta	å	ä	ö

Note Z only appears in foreign loanwords. Some Swedish Vocabulary

Hej [hej]	Hi
Hej då [hej då:]	Good bye
God morgon [go:d *mårån]	Good morning
Tack [tak]	Thank you/Please
Tack så mycket [tak så: *myket]	Thank you very much
Varsågod [vaså:’go:d]	You’re welcome / Here you are
Ja [ja:]	Yes
Nej [nej]	No
Ursäkta [u:’säkta]	Excuse me / Pardon
Förlåt [fö:r’lå:t]	I’m sorry
Bra [bra:]	Good / Well
Jag [ja:g]	I
Du [du:]	You (sing.)
Han [han]	He
Hon [hon]	She
Den [den]	It (common gender)
Det [de:t]	It (neuter)
Vi [vi:]	We
Ni** [ni:]	You (plur.), formal you sing. and plur.
De [de:] / most common [dåm]	They

**Nowadays, ni isn’t used very much as formal sing. We usually address everybody with du. There is a Swedish pronoun man which is used in common aspects such as Man kan inte göra allt = One can’t do everything. Regular verbs, infinitive and present tense All polysyllabic Swedish verbs end with an a in the infinitive. (Others, those of one syllable end with any vowel.) There are two conjugations of regular verbs – group 1 adding an r to the stem in the present tense and group two adding er to the stem. The Swedish word corresponding to the English to in to go for example is att. Example:

Group 1:	Verb:	Tala (to speak)	Group 2:	Verb:	Köpa (to buy)
	Stem:	Tala-		Stem:	Köp-
	Present tense:	Talar		Present tense:	Köper
Group 1:	Verb:	Älska (to love)	Group 2:	Verb:	Hjälpa (to help)
	Stem:	Älska-		Stem:	Hjälp-
	Present tense:	Älskar		Present tense:	Hjälper

And as I said before, the verbs conjugate in the same way in all persons. Almost all irregular verbs form their present tense as does groupe 2. Example: skriva (to write) skriv- + er = skriver han skriver = He writes

• The verb vara (to be) and ha (to have) are irregular and have the forms är and har in the present tense. (Jag är = I am, Jag har = I have)

• Monosyllabic verbs are almost always irregular and form the present tense by adding an r.

Example: se (to see) se + r = ser hon ser = she sees Pronunciation

• Two-syllabic verbs all have the grave accent in the infinitive. Verbs with three or more syllables often have the accute accent on the second last syllable.

• In the present tense, group 1 verbs with two syllables all have the grave accent and all others of two syllabels have the accute accent on the first syllable. Almost all verbs of more than two syllables stress the second-last syllable with an accute accent.

Example: Tala (1) = [*ta:la], Talar = [*ta:lar] Köpa (2) = [*kö:pa], Köper = [‘kö:per] Skriva (i) = [*skri:va], Skriver = [‘skri:ver] Diskutera (1) = [disku:’te:ra], Diskuterar = [disku:’te:rar] (diskutera = discuss)   Some Swedish verbs:

Tala (1) [*ta:la]	to speak
Prata (1) [*pra:ta]	to talk
Studera (1) [stu:’de:ra]	to study
Älska (1) [*älska]	to love
Köpa (2) [*kö:pa]	to buy
Hjälpa (2) [*hjälpa]	to help
Skriva (i) [*skri:va]	to write
Äta (i) [ä:ta]	to eat
Vara (i) [*va:ra] Present tense = är [ä:r]	to be
Heta (2) [*he:ta]	like “to have the name”
Ringa (2) [*riga]	to call
Se (i) [se:]	to see

Now that you know some verbs and nouns, you could construct more advanced sentences such as Jag heter Björn Engdahl = My name is Björn Engdahl Han köper en boll = He buys a ball Some Swedish Everyday Expressions

English	Swedish
Hello	Hej
Good evening	Hej
Goodbye	Hejdå
See you later	Vi ses
Yes	Ja
No	Nej
Excuse me!	Skulle du kunna
Thanks	Tack!
Thanks a lot	Tack så mycket!
Thank you for your help	Tack för hjälpen
Don’t mention it	Varsågod
Ok	Okej
How much is it?	Hur mycket kostar det?
Sorry!	Förlåt!
I don’t understand	Jag förstår inte
I get it	Jag förstår
I don’t know	Jag vet inte
Forbidden	Förbjudet
Excuse me, where are the toilets?	Ursäkta mig, var finns det en toalett?
Happy New Year!	Gott Nytt År!
Happy birthday!	Grattis på födelsedagen!
Happy holiday!	Trevliga helgdagar
Congratulations!	Gratulerar!

Some Swedish nouns

ett barn [et ba:rn]	child
en flicka [en *flika]	girl
en pojke [*pojke]	boy
ett fönster [‘fönster]	window
ett bord [bo:d]	table
en man [man]	man
en kvinna [*kvina]	woman
en bok [bo:k]	book
en telefon [tele’få:n]	telephone
en stol [sto:l]	chair
en dörr [dör]	door
ett vykort [*vy:kot]	postcard
en penna [*pena]	pen(cil)
ett rum [rum]	room
ett badrum [*ba:drum]	bathroom
ett hotell [ho’tel]	hotel
ett frimärke [*fri:märke]	stamp

  In Swedish, a verb employs the same form in all persons, whereas English for example uses different forms for different persons. Thus, the verb varaconjugates as follows in the present tense:

Jag	är (compared to English>	I	am
Du	är	You	are
Han	är	He	is
Hon	är	She	is
Den	är	It	is
Det	är	It	is
Vi	är	We	are
Ni	är	You	are
De	är	They	are

  As you can see, this is very easy. Therefore you only have to learn one form for every verb in each tense. Most Swedish verbs are regular, but the most frequently used are irregular. Regular verbs, infinitive and present tense All polysyllabic Swedish verbs end with an a in the infinitive. (Others, those of one syllable end with any vowel.) There are two conjugations of regular verbs – group 1 adding an r to the stem in the present tense and group two adding er to the stem. The Swedish word corresponding to the English to in to go for example is att. Example:

Group 1:	Verb:	Tala (to speak)	Group 2:	Verb:	Köpa (to buy)
	Stem:	Tala-		Stem:	Köp-
	Present tense:	Talar		Present tense:	Köper
Group 1:	Verb:	Älska (to love)	Group 2:	Verb:	Hjälpa (to help)
	Stem:	Älska-		Stem:	Hjälp-
	Present tense:	Älskar		Present tense:	Hjälper

  And as I said before, the verbs conjugate in the same way in all persons. Almost all irregular verbs form their present tense as does groupe 2. Example: skriva (to write) skriv- + er = skriver han skriver = He writes

• The verb vara (to be) and ha (to have) are irregular and have the forms är and har in the present tense. (Jag är = I am, Jag har = I have)

• Monosyllabic verbs are almost always irregular and form the present tense by adding an r.

Example: se (to see) se + r = ser hon ser = she sees Some verbs:

Tala (1) [*ta:la]	to speak
Prata (1) [*pra:ta]	to talk
Studera (1) [stu:’de:ra]	to study
Älska (1) [*älska]	to love
Köpa (2) [*kö:pa]	to buy
Hjälpa (2) [*hjälpa]	to help
Skriva (i) [*skri:va]	to write
Äta (i) [ä:ta]	to eat
Vara (i) [*va:ra] Present tense = är [ä:r]	to be
Heta (2) [*he:ta]	like “to have the name”
Ringa (2) [*riga]	to call
Se (i) [se:]	to see

  Now that you know some verbs and nouns, you could construct more advanced sentences such as Jag heter Björn Engdahl = My name is Björn Engdahl Han köper en boll = He buys a ball  ]]>