Language Information

Swedish alphabet

A a

B b

C c

D d

E e

F f

G g

H h

I i

J j

K k

L l

M m

N n

eff

hå

kå

ell

O o

P p

Q q

R r

S s

T t

U u

V v

X x

Y y

Z z

Å å

Ä ä

Ö ö

ärr

ess

eks

säta

The letter Q is not used in modern Swedish. K is now used instead, except in proper names. Similarly W is usually replaced with V, except in proper names. Z only appears in foreign loanwords.

Pronunciation

c = [ s ] before e, i or y, [ k ] elsewhere
g = [ j ] before e, i, y, ä or ö, [ g ] elsewhere
k = [ ɕ ] before e, i, y, ä or ö, [ k ] elsewhere
ch = [ ʃ ] before e, i, y, ä or ö, [ ʂ ] before a, o, å or u
sk = [ ɧ ] before e, i, y, ä or ö, [ sk ] elsewhere
rg = [ rg, ʀg ] before a, o, u, å, [ rj, ʀj ] elsewhere
lg = [ lg ] before a, o, u, å, [ lj ] elsewhere
r, rd, rg, rl, rn, rs and rt: the pronunciation on the left is used in northern and mid-Sweden while the pronunciation on the right is used in southern Sweden
The pronunciation of sch/sj/sk/skj/stj and tj sounds vary considerably throughout Sweden.

Grammar

Modern Swedish no longer conjugates verbs based on person or number, and its nouns are almost unchanged with respect to case. Swedish still uses some inflection with nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Word order is fairly fixed — generally subject-verb-object is the order of a declarative sentence, while a question sentence is verb-subject-object. A distinct feature is that a sentence beginning with an adverbial phrase (e.g. "In the morning", "Frequently"), also inverts subject and verb, the same as a question would.

Nouns come in two grammatical genders: common and neuter.

Pronouns have distinct nominative, accusative, and genitive forms. Regular nouns are alike in nominative and accusative; the genitive is formed regularly by adding -s (after the definite article, if the noun is definite).

Swedish nouns are classified 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.
Most nouns of common gender not ending in a add either -ar, -er, or (rarely) -r.
All neuter nouns ending in a vowel add -n.
All neuter nouns ending in a consonant are unchanged in the plural.

The definite article in Swedish is a suffix, while the indefinite article is a separate word preceding the noun. Articles differ in form depending on the gender and number of the noun.

The indefinite article is "en" for common nouns, and "ett" for neuter nouns. The definite article is generally the suffixes "-(a)n" or "-(e)n" for common nouns, and "-(e)t" for neuter nouns.

Pronouns inflect for person, number, and, in the third person singular, gender.

English	subjective	objective	possessive
I	jag	mig	min/mitt/mina¹
thou	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	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" (/do:m/) in speech.

The Swedish adjectives are declined according to the gender, number, and definiteness of the noun. An adjective can be transformed into an adverb by adding the suffix "-t". Adjectives precede the noun they determine.

Verbs do not inflect for person or number. They inflect for present and past tense, and imperative and infinitive 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, Supine, Past Participle. Verbs may also take the passive voice. The passive voice is formed by appending "s" to the main verb in its current tense. By one common system there are four classes of verbs:

Class I has stems ending in -a, the present tense ends in -r, the past tense in -de, the supine in -t, and the past participle in -d. The infinitive is the same as the stem.

Class II has stems ending in a consonant, and adds -er in the present. The infinitive ends in -a.

Class III has stems ending in a vowel that is not -a, and adds -r in the present. The infinitive is identical to the stem.

Class IV is comprised of the Germanic strong verbs.

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