Swedish grammar
Swedish is descended from Old Norse. Compared to its progenitor, Swedish grammar is much less characterized by inflection. Modern Swedish has two genders and no longer conjugates verbs based on person or number. Its nouns have lost the morphological distinction between nominative and accusative cases that denoted grammatical subject and object in Old Norse in favor of marking by word order. Swedish uses some inflection with nouns, adjectives, and verbs. It is generally a Subject Verb Object (SVO) language with V2 word order.
Nouns
Nouns have two grammatical genders: common (utrum) and neuter (neutrum), which determine their definite forms as well as the form of any adjectives used to describe them. Noun gender is largely arbitrary and must be memorized; however, around three quarters of all Swedish nouns are common gender. Living beings are often common nouns, like in en katt, en häst, en fluga, etc.
Swedish formerly had three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter. Though traces of the three-gender system still exist in archaic expressions and certain dialects, masculine and feminine nouns have today merged into the common gender. Differences between masculine and feminine nouns are today only expressed in the singular definite form of adjectives, and to some extent in personal pronouns.
There are a small number of Swedish nouns that can be either common or neuter gender. The database for Svenska Akademiens Ordlista 12 contained 324 such nouns.[1]
There are traces of the former four-case system for nouns evidenced in that pronouns still have a subject, object (based on the old dative form) and genitive forms.[2] Nouns make no distinction between subject and object forms, and the genitive is formed by adding -s to the end of a word. This -s genitive functions more like a clitic than a proper case and is nearly identical to the possessive suffix used in English.
Swedish nouns are inflected for number and definiteness and can take a genitive suffix. They exhibit the following morpheme order:
| Noun stem | (Plural) | (Definite article) | (Genitive -s) |
Plural forms
Nouns form the plural in a variety of ways. It is customary to classify regular Swedish nouns into five declensions based on their plural indefinite endings: -or, -ar, -er, -n, and unchanging nouns.
- All nouns of common gender ending in a add -r and change the a to o. For example, flicka (girl), flickor (girls). There are also a few exceptions, such as våg (wave), vågor (waves); toffel (slipper), tofflor (slippers); ros (rose), rosor (roses).
- Most nouns of common gender not ending in a add either -ar, -er, or (rarely) -r. While -ar is slightly more common, there is no reliable rule to determine which suffix to use. Examples: växt (plant), växter (plants); lök (onion), lökar (onions). A few rules can be named, though, as nouns of common gender ending with -e or -ing belong to the second declension, and form their plural forms with -ar. In addition, endings -are and -iker belong to the fifth declension and remain the same in plural, -é, -else, -het, -(n)ad and -or to the third declension, adding -er if they end in a consonant and -r if they end in a vowel. Nouns of common gender ending -an do not inflect. Occasional exceptions are possible but few. All polysyllabic common gender nouns and a few polysyllabic neuter nouns that have their main stress on the last syllable belong to the third declension (with plural in -er).
- All neuter nouns ending in a vowel add -n. For example: äpple (apple), äpplen (apples).
- All neuter nouns ending in a consonant are unchanged in the plural. For example: barn (child) or barn (children).
There are also some irregular nouns — their number is not great, but they are some of the most commonly used nouns.
- Mildly irregular nouns are common nouns that are unchanged in the plural, nouns that double a consonant and shorten a vowel in the plural, etc. For example: gås (goose), gäss (geese)
- Certain nouns borrowed from Latin use Latin inflections, or Swedish inflections added to the root after removing the Latin singular ending, such as faktum, the plural of which is fakta.
- A small class of irregular nouns consist of those that mutate a back vowel of the singular form to a front vowel in the plural. Some of these also change the vowel and consonant lengths also, or add some sort of suffix, or both. The cognates of these mutating nouns in other Germanic languages are often similarly irregular. For example: man (man), män (men); mus (mouse), möss (mice).
Articles and definite forms
The definite article in Swedish is a suffix, while the indefinite article is a separate word preceding the noun. This structure of the articles is shared by the Scandinavian languages. Articles differ in form depending on the gender and number of the noun.
The indefinite article, which is only used in the singular, is "en" for common nouns, and "ett" for neuter nouns, e.g. en flaska (a bottle), ett brev (a letter). The definite article in the singular is generally the suffixes "-en" or "-n" for common nouns (e.g. flaskan "the bottle"), and "-et" or "-t" for neuter nouns (e.g. brevet "the letter"). The definite article in the plural is "-na", "-a" or "-en", depending on declension group, for example flaskorna (the bottles), breven (the letters).
When an adjective is used in front of a noun with the definite article, an additional definite article is placed before the adjective(s). This additional definite article is det for neuter nouns and den for common nouns, e.g. den nya flaskan (the new bottle), det nya brevet (the new letter), de nya flaskorna (the new bottles). A similar structure involving the same kind of circumfixing of the definite article with the words där (there) or här (here) is used to mean "this" and "that", e.g. den här flaskan (this bottle), det där brevet (that letter).
The five declension classes may be named -or, -ar, -er, -n, and null after their respective plural indefinite endings. Each noun has eight forms: singular/plural, definite/indefinite and caseless/genitive. The caseless form is sometimes referred to as nominative, even though it is used for grammatical objects as well as subjects.
The genitive
The genitive is always formed by appending -s to the caseless form. In the second, third and fifth declensions words may end with an -s already in the caseless form. These words take no extra -s in genitive use: the genitive (indefinite) of hus ("house") is hus. Morpheme boundaries in some forms may be analyzed differently by some scholars.
The Swedish genitive is not considered a case by all scholars today, due to a tendency of language users to put the -s on the last word of the noun phrase even though that word is not the head noun. This use of -s as a clitic rather than a suffix has traditionally been regarded as ungrammatical, but is a rather acceptable use today. It also mirrors English usage (e.g. Mannen som står därbortas hatt. "The man standing over there's hat.")
Examples
These examples cover all regular Swedish caseless noun forms.
First declension: -or (common gender)
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Second declension: -ar (common gender)
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Third declension: -er, -r (mostly common gender nouns, some neuter nouns)
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Words taking only -r as a marker for plural is regarded as a declension of its own by some scholars. However, traditionally these have been regarded as a special version of the third declension.
Fourth declension: -n (neuter) This is when a neuter noun ends in a vowel.
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Fifth declension: unmarked plural (mostly neuter nouns that don't end in vowels and common gender nouns ending in certain derivation suffixes)
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Pronouns
The Swedish pronoun system is almost identical to that of English. Pronouns inflect for person, number, and, in the third person singular, gender. Differences with English include the inclusion in Swedish of a reflexive pronoun "sig" for third-person reflexive, and the maintenance of distinct 2nd person singular, plural, and objective forms which have all merged to "you" in English, while the third person plurals are becoming merged in Swedish instead.
The Swedish pronouns are:
| English | subjective | objective | possessive |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | jag | mig | min/mitt/mina1 |
| you (singular) | du | dig | din/ditt/dina1 |
| he | han | honom | hans |
| she | hon | henne | hennes |
| it (common) | den | den | dess |
| it (neuter) | det | det | dess |
| we | vi | oss | vår/vårt/våra1 |
| you (plural) | ni | er | er/ert/era1 |
| they | de² | dem² | deras |
| (reflexive) | - | sig | sin/sitt/sina1 |
1These possessive pronouns are inflected like adjectives, agreeing in gender, number, and definiteness with the item possessed. The other possessive pronouns are genitive forms that are unaffected by the item possessed.
²"de" (they) and "dem" (them) are both pronounced "dom" (/dɔm/) in speech, and occasionally spelt that way in casual writing. In some dialects (especially in Finnish ones) there is still a separation between the two, "de" is then commonly pronounced /di/. Note also that mig, dig, sig are pronounced as if written "mej", "dej", "sej", and sometimes spelled that way, though that is still not accepted as a correct way of spelling them, just as "dom".
Adjectives
Swedish adjectives are declined according to gender, number, and definiteness of the noun.
In singular indefinite, the form used with nouns of the common gender is the undeclined form, but with nouns of the neuter gender a suffix -t is added.
- en stor elefant - a large elephant (stor - large)
- ett stort lejon - a large lion
With nouns in the plural adjectives always get the suffix -a (a few irregular adjectives excepted). In attributive use adjectives also take -a with singular nouns in the definite form. In predicative use they are unaffected by definiteness. Adjectives also take the -a suffix in a possessive context, following possessive pronouns or phrases that indicate ownership, and, finally, in a vocative context.
- en lång kvinna - a tall woman (lång - tall, kvinna - woman)
- en kvinna är lång - a woman is tall
- den långa kvinnan - the tall woman
- kvinnan är lång - the woman is tall
- långa kvinnor - tall women
- kvinnor är långa - women are tall
- de långa kvinnorna - the tall women
- kvinnorna är långa - the women are tall
- ett stort barn - a big child (stor - big, barn - child)
- ett barn är stort - a child is big
- det stora barnet - the big child
- barnet är stort - the child is big
- stora barn - big children
- barn är stora - children are big
- de stora barnen - the big children
- barnen är stora - the children are big
- en svart katt - a black cat (svart - black, katt - cat)
- min svarta katt - my black cat
- min mors svarta katt - my mother's black cat
- God morgon, svarta katt - Good morning, black cat
For adjectives with a singular definite noun referring to a male (i.e., of masculine natural gender), there is an older form preserved, especially in formal texts, showing the now obsolete masculine gender, ending in -e. This is in free variation with the regular form just described. The form with -e cannot be used with plural nouns.
- den stilige mannen/den stiliga mannen - the handsome man.
Adjectives with comparative and superlative forms ending in -are and -ast, which is a majority, also, and so by rule, use the -e suffix for all persons on definite superlatives: den billigaste bilen ("the cheapest car"). Another instance of -e for all persons is the plural forms and definite forms of adjectival verb partciples ending in -ad: en målad bil ("a painted car") vs. målade bilar ("painted cars") and den målade bilen ("the painted car").
Note that the declined adjective and/or article often makes it possible to tell if a neuter noun is singular or plural.
- Ett stort ord - A big word
- Stora ord - Big words
Numerals
Cardinal numbers
The cardinal numbers from zero to twelve in Swedish are:
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| noll | en/ett | två | tre | fyra | fem | sex | sju | åtta | nio | tio | elva | tolv |
The number 1 is the same as the indefinite article, and its form (en/ett) depends on the gender of the noun that it modifies.
The Swedish numbers from 13 to 19 are:
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| tretton | fjorton | femton | sexton | sjutton | arton (aderton) |
nitton |
The form aderton is archaic, and is nowadays only used in poetry and some official documents. It is however still common in many dialects, such as those spoken in Finland.
The numbers for multiples of ten from 20 to 1000 are:
| 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 1000 |
| tjugo | trettio | fyrtio | femtio | sextio | sjuttio | åttio | nittio | (ett) hundra | (ett) tusen |
When trettio (30), fyrtio (40), femtio (50), sextio (60), sjuttio (70), åttio (80), nittio (90) are compounded with another digit to form a compound number, for example 32, there are two accepted ways to spell the compound number: with or without the -o. For example, 32 can be written as trettiotvå or trettitvå.
Numbers are not always pronounced the way they are spelled. With the numbers nio (9), tio (10) and tjugo (20), often the -o is pronounced as an -e, e.g., "tjuge". In some northern dialects the -o is pronounced as a -u ("tjugu"), and in some middle dialects the -o is pronounced as an -i ("tjugi"). In spoken language, tjugo usually drops the final syllable when compounded with another digit and is pronounced as "tju" + the digit, e.g., tjugosju (27) may be pronounced "tjusju". Words ending in -io (trettio, fyrtio, etc) are most often pronounced without the final -o. The "y" in fyrtio (40) is always pronounced as an "ö".
The ett preceding hundra (100) and tusen (1000) is optional, but in compounds it is usually required.
Higher numbers include:
| 10 000 | tiotusen |
| 100 000 | hundratusen |
| 1 000 000 | en miljon |
| 10 000 000 | tio miljoner |
| 100 000 000 | (ett) hundra miljoner |
| 1 000 000 000 | en miljard |
| 1 000 000 000 000 | en biljon |
| 1 000 000 000 000 000 | en biljard |
| 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 | en triljon |
For each third multiple of 10, a new noun is used based on Latin name for cardinal numbers:
| 103 | tusen | ||
| 106 | miljon | ||
| 109 | miljard | ||
| 1012 | biljon | 2 × 6 | = 12 |
| 1015 | biljard | 2 × 6 + 3 | = 15 |
| 1018 | triljon | 3 × 6 | = 18 |
| 1021 | triljard | 3 × 6 + 3 | = 21 |
| 1024 | kvadriljon | 4 × 6 | = 24 |
| 1027 | kvadriljard | 4 × 6 + 3 | = 27 |
Thus follows kvintiljon, kvintiljard, sextiljon, sextiljard, septiljon, septiljard, oktiljon, oktiljard, noniljon, noniljard etc. The names of the cardinal number above triljard are somewhat disputed.
The cardinal numbers from miljon and larger are true nouns and take the -er suffix in the plural. They are separated in written Swedish from the preceding number.
Any number can be compounded by simply joining the relevant simple cardinal number in the same order as the digits are written. Written with digits, a number is separated with a space between each third digit from the right. The same principle is used when a number is written with letters, although this becomes less common the longer the number is. However, round numbers, like tusen, miljon and miljard are often written with letters as are small numbers (below 20).
| Written form | In components (do not use in written Swedish) | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | tjugoett | (tjugo-ett) |
| 147 | etthundrafyrtisju etthundrafyrtiosju |
(ett-hundra-fyrtio-sju) |
| 1 975 | ettusen niohundrasjuttifem ettusen niohundrasjuttiofem |
(ett-tusen nio-hundra-sjuttio-fem) |
| 10 874 | tiotusen åttahundrasjuttifyra tiotusen åttahundrasjuttiofyra |
(tio-tusen åtta-hundra-sjuttio-fyra) |
| 100 557 | etthundratusen femhundrafemtisju etthundratusen femhundrafemtiosju |
(ett-hundra-tusen fem-hundra-femtio-sju) |
| 1 378 971 | en miljon trehundrasjuttiåtta tusen niohundrasjuttiett en miljon trehundrasjuttioåtta tusen niohundrasjuttioett |
(en miljon tre-hundra-sjuttio-åtta tusen nio-hundra-sjuttio-ett) |
The decimal point is written as "," (comma) and written and pronounced komma. The digits following the decimal point may be read individually or as a pair if there are only two. When dealing with monetary amounts (usually with two decimals), the decimal point is read as och, i.e. "and": 3,50 (tre och femtio), 7,88 (sju och åttioåtta).
The basic operations include:
| + | plus |
| - | minus |
| · | gånger, also written as × in older texts |
| / | delat med or genom |
The equal sign (=) is read as är (is), är lika med (is equal to) or blir (yields).
| 1 + 2 = 3 | ett plus två är (lika med) tre | ett plus två blir tre |
| 5 - 4 = 1 | fem minus fyra är (lika med) ett | fem minus fyra blir ett |
| 2 · 3 = 6 | två gånger tre är (lika med) sex | två gånger tre blir sex |
| 8 / 4 = 2 | åtta delat med fyra är (lika med) två åtta genom fyra är (lika med) två |
åtta delat med fyra blir två åtta genom fyra blir två |
Rational numbers are read as the cardinal number of the numerator followed by the ordinal number of the denominator compounded with -del or -delar (part(s)). If the numerator is more than one, logically, the plural form of del is used. For those ordinal numbers that are three syllables or longer and end in -de, that suffix is usually dropped in favour of the de in -del. There are a few exceptions.
| 1⁄2 | en halv (one half), en andradel/andredel, or occasionally en tvådjedel analogous with en tredjedel |
| 1⁄3 | en tredjedel |
| 3⁄4 | tre fjärdedelar |
| 2⁄5 | två femtedelar |
| 5⁄6 | fem sjättedelar |
| 4⁄7 | fyra sjundedelar |
| 1⁄8 | en åttondel or en åttondedel |
| 8⁄9 | åtta niondelar or åtta niondedelar |
| 1⁄10 | en tiondel |
| 1⁄11 | en elftedel |
| 1⁄12 | en tolftedel |
| 1⁄13 | en trettondel |
| 1⁄14 | en fjortondel |
| 1⁄15 | en femtondel |
| 1⁄16 | en sextondel |
| 1⁄17 | en sjuttondel |
| 1⁄18 | en artondel |
| 1⁄19 | en nittondel |
| 1⁄20 | en tjugondel |
Ordinal numbers
First to twelfth:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th |
| 1:a | 2:a | 3:e | 4:e | 5:e | 6:e | 7:e | 8:e | 9:e | 10:e | 11:e | 12:e |
| första | andra | tredje | fjärde | femte | sjätte | sjunde | åttonde | nionde | tionde | elfte | tolfte |
Thirteen to nineteen:
- As cardinal numerals, but with the suffix -de, e.g., trettonde (13:e), fjortonde (14:e).
Even tens (20th to 90th):
- As cardinal numerals, but with the suffix -nde, e.g., tjugonde (20:e), trettionde (30:e)
100th, 1000th:
- As cardinal numerals, but with the suffix -de, e.g., hundrade (100:e, hundredth), tusende (1000:e, thousandth)
Higher numbers:
- As cardinal numerals, but with the suffix -te, e.g., miljonte (millionth). There is no ordinal for "miljard".
Verbs
Verbs do not inflect for person or number. They inflect for the present tense, past tense, imperative, subjunctive, and indicative mood. Other tenses are formed by combinations of auxiliary verbs with infinitives or a special form of the participle called the "supine". In total there are 6 spoken active-voice forms for each verb: infinitive, imperative, present, preterite/past, supine, and past participle. The only subjunctive form used in everyday speech is vore, the past subjunctive of vara ("to be"). It is used as one way of expressing the conditional ("would be", "were"), but is optional. Except for this form, subjunctive forms are considered archaic.
Verbs may also take the passive voice. The passive voice for any verb tense is formed by appending -s to the tense. For verbs ending in -r, the -r is first removed before the -s is added. Verbs ending in -er often lose the -e- as well, other than in very formal style: stärker ("strengthens") becomes stärks or stärkes ("is strengthened"). (Exceptions are monosyllabic verbs and verbs where the root ends in -s.) Swedish uses the passive voice more frequently than English.
Conjugating verbs
Swedish verbs are divided into four groups:
| Group | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | regular -ar verbs |
| 2 | regular -er verbs |
| 3 | short verbs, end in -r |
| 4 | strong and irregular verbs, end in -er or -r |
About 80% of all verbs in Swedish are group 1 verbs, which is the only productive verb group, i.e., all new verbs in Swedish are of this class.[citation needed] Swenglish variants of English verbs can be made by adding -a to the end of an English verb, sometimes with minor spelling changes. The verb is then treated as a group 1 verb. Examples of modern loan words within the IT field are chatta and surfa. Swenglish variants from the IT field that may be used but are not considered Swedish include maila (to email or mail) and savea (to save).
The stem of a verb is based on the present tense of the verb. If the present tense ends in -ar, the -r is removed to form the stem, e.g., kallar → kalla-. If the present tense ends in -er, the -er is removed, e.g., stänger → stäng-. For short verbs, the -r is removed from the present tense of the verb, e.g., syr → sy-. The imperative is the same as the stem.
For group 1 verbs, the stem ends in -a, the infinitive is the same as the stem, the present tense ends in -r, the past tense in -de, the supine in -t, and the past participle in -d, -t, and de.
For group 2 verbs, the stem ends in a consonant, the infinitive ends in -a, and the present tense in -er. Group 2 verbs are further subdivided into group 2a and 2b. For group 2a verbs, the past tense ends in -de and the past participle in -d, -t, and -da. For group 2b verbs, the past tense ends in -te and the past participle in -t, -t, and -ta. This is in turn decided by whether the stem ends in a voiced or a voiceless consonant. E.g. The stem of Heta (to be called) is het, and as t is a voiceless consonant the past tense ends in -te, making hette the past tense. If the stem ends in a voiced consonant however, as in Stör-a (to disturb), the past tense ends in -de making störde the past tense.
For group 3 verbs, the stem ends in a vowel that is not -a, the infinitive is the same as the stem, the present tense ends in -r, the past tense in -dde, the supine in -tt, and the past participle in -dd, -tt, and -dda.
Group 4 verbs are strong and irregular verbs. Many commonly used verbs belong to this group. For strong verbs, the vowel changes for the past and often the supine, following a definite pattern, e.g., stryka is a strong verb that follows the u/y, ö, u pattern (see table below for conjugations). Irregular verbs, such as vara (to be), are completely irregular and follow no pattern. As of lately, an increasing number verbs formerly conjugated with a strong inflection has been subject to be conjugated with its weak equivalent form in colloquial speech.
| Group | Stem | Imperative | Infinitive | Present | Preterite/Past | Supine | Past participle | English | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | kalla- | kalla! | kalla | - | kallar | -r | kallade | -de | kallat | -t | kallad kallat kallade |
-d -t -de |
to call |
| 2a | stäng- | stäng! | stänga | -a | stänger | -er | stängde | -de | stängt | -t | stängd stängt stängda |
-d -t -da |
to close |
| 2b | läs- | läs! | läsa | -a | läser | -er | läste | -te | läst | -t | läst läst lästa |
-t -t -ta |
to read |
| 3 | sy- | sy! | sy | - | syr | -r | sydde | -dde | sytt | -tt | sydd sytt sydda |
-dd -tt -dda |
to sew |
| 4 (strong) | stryk- | stryk! | stryka | -a | stryker | -er | strök | * | strukit | -it | struken struket strukna |
-en -et -na |
to strike out to iron to stroke |
| 4 (irregular) | var- | var! | vara | är | var | varit | - | to be | |||||
*often new vowel
As in all the Germanic languages, strong verbs change their vowel sounds in the various tenses. For most Swedish strong verbs that have a verb cognate in English or German, that cognate is also strong. For example, "to bite" is a strong verb in all three languages:
| Language | Infinitive | Present | Preterite/Past | Supine/Perfect | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swedish | bita | jag biter | jag bet | jag har bitit | biten, bitet, bitna |
| German | beißen | ich beiße | ich biss | ich habe gebissen | gebissen |
| English | to bite | I bite | I bit | I have bitten | bitten |
Supine form
The supine (supinum) form is used in Swedish to form the composite past form of a verb. For verb groups 1-3 the supine is identical to the neuter form of the past participle. For verb group 4, the supine ends in -it while the past participle's neuter form ends in -et. Clear pan-Swedish rules for the distinction in use of the -et and -it verbal suffixes were missing though before the first official Swedish Bible translation, completed 1541.
This is best shown by example:
- Simple past: I ate the dinner - Jag åt maten (using preterite)
- Composite past: I have eaten the dinner - Jag har ätit maten (using supine)
- Past participle common: The dinner is eaten - Maten är äten (using past participle)
- Past participle neuter: The apple is eaten - Äpplet är ätet
- Past participle plural: The apples are eaten - Äpplena är ätna
The supine form is used after ha (to have). In English this form is normally merged with the past participle, or the preterite, and this was formerly the case in Swedish, too (the choice of -it or -et being dialectal rather than grammatical); however, in modern Swedish, they are separate, since the distinction of -it being supine and -et being participial was standardised.
Passive voice
The passive voice in Swedish is formed in one of four ways:
- add an -s to any active form of the verb, first dropping any -(e)r ending in the present tense
- use a form of bli (become) + the perfect participle
- use a form of vara (be) + the perfect participle
- use a form of få (get) + the perfect participle
The fourth form is different from the others, since it is analogous to the English get passive: Han fick dörren målad (He got the/his door painted). This form is used when you want to use another subject but the "normal" one in a passive clause. In English you could say: "The door was painted for him", but if you want "he" to be the subject you need to say "He got the door painted." Swedish uses the same structure.
Of the first three forms, the first (s-passive) tends to focus on the action itself rather than the result of it. The second (bli-passive) stresses the change caused by the action. The third (vara-passive) puts the result of the action in the centre of interest:
- Dörren målas. (Someone paints the door right now.)
- Dörren blir målad. (The door is being painted, in a new colour or wasn't painted before.)
- Dörren är målad. (The door is painted.)
The Subjunctive Mood
Verbs in the Subjunctive Mood are conjugated in two tenses - Present and Past. Present subjunctive forms are rarely heard in modern spoken Swedish. Their use is restricted to frozen expressions like "leve kungen!" (long live the king!) and "följe lyckan dig genom livet!" (let luck follow you in this life!). Present Conjunctive is formed by adding the "-e" ending to the stem of a verb:
- att tala - tale
- att ringa - ringe
- att sy - sy
- att bliva - blive
Past subjunctive forms are more frequent than Present ones. Past subjunctive is regularly used in certain dialect of Swedish (however, in Stockholm they usually merge with the Past Tense of the Indicative Mood, except for the verb "to be" that almost always takes the form "vore"). Past Conjunctive is formed by taking the stem of the Simple Past tense in the Plural and adding the "-e" ending:
- att tala - talade
- att ringa - ringde
- att sy - sydde
- att bli(va) - blev - blevo - bleve, att bryta - bröt - bröto - bröte, att gå - gick - gingo - ginge, att stå - stod - stodo - stode, att finna - fann - funno - funne, att ge - gav - gåvo - gåve
Adverbs
An adjective can be transformed into an adverb by adding the suffix "-t".
- tjock (thick, fat) -> tjockt (thickly)
- snabb (quick) -> snabbt (quickly)
Prepositions
Prepositions of location
| Preposition | Meaning | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| på | on | Råttan dansar på bordet. | The rat dances on the table. |
| under | under | Musen dansar under bordet. | The mouse dances under the table. |
| i | in | Kålle arbetar i Göteborg. | Kålle works in Gothenburg. |
| till | to | Ada har åkt till Göteborg. | Ada has gone to Gothenburg. |
Prepositions of time
| Preposition | Meaning | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| på | at | Vi ses på rasten. | See you at the break. |
| före | before | De var alltid trötta före rasten. | They were always tired before the break. |
| om | in | Kan vi ha rast om en timme? | May we have a break in an hour? |
| i | for | Kan vi ha rast i en timme? | May we have a break for one hour? |
Causal prepositions
| Preposition | Meaning | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| över | about | Kålle är glad över att ha träffat Ada. | Kålle is happy about having met Ada. |
| med | with | Kålle är nöjd med Ada. | Kålle is pleased with Ada. |
| på | of | Kålle är trött på Ada. | Kålle is tired of Ada. |
| av | from | Kålle är trött av nattskiftet. | Kålle is tired from the nightshift. |
Placement of prepositions
Often prepositions are placed before the word they are referring to. However, there are a few exceptions:
| Preposition | Meaning | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| runt | around | riket runt | around the Kingdom |
| emellan | between | bröder emellan | between brothers |
| på | of | Det är Ada jag tänker på. | It's Ada that I'm thinking of |
Syntax
Being a Germanic language, Swedish syntax shows similarities to both English and German. Like English, Swedish has a Subject Verb Object basic word order, but like German, utilizes verb-second word order in main clauses, for instance after adverbs, adverbial phrases and dependent clauses. Adjectives generally precede the noun they determine, though the reverse is not infrequent in poetry. Nouns qualifying other nouns are almost always compounded on the fly, (as with German, but less so with English), with the last noun being the head.
A general word-order template may be drawn for a Swedish sentence, where each part, if it does appear, appears in this order. (Source -- Swedish For Immigrants level 3).
Main Clause
| Fundament | Main verb | Subject (if not fundament) | Clausal Adverb/negation | Verb (in infinitive or supine) | Object | Spatial Adverb | Temporal Adverb |
Subordinate Clause
| Conjunction | Subject | Clausal Adverb/Negation | Main Verb | Verb (in infinitive or supine) | Object | Spatial Adverb | Temporal Adverb |
The "Fundament" is either an adverb, or adverbial phrase, that may be spatial, temporal, or clausal, or the subject.
Notes
- ^ Källström, Roger. "Omarkerat neutrum?" (PDF). Göteborgs universitet. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
- ^ Pettersson, 150-51
References
- Holmes, Philip & Hinchliffe, Ian (1997) Swedish: An Essential Grammar Routledge: New York ISBN 0-415-16160-6
- Pettersson, Gertrud (1996) Svenska språket under sjuhundra år: en historia om svenskan och dess utforskande Lund: Studentlitteratur ISBN 91-44-48221-3