Swedish grammar
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Swedish is descended from Old Norse. Compared to its progenitor, Swedish grammar is much less characterized by inflection. In modern Swedish, two of the original three genders have merged to one, resulting in a two-gender system. The modern language no longer conjugates verbs based on person or number, and 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. Swedish is generally an Subject Verb Object (SVO) language, in that the subject usually precedes the verb which precedes the object. However, it is also a verb-second language like many other Germanic languages, thus the word order changes to Verb Subject Object (VSO) in questions. Sentences where some word or phrase precedes the subject (e.g. an adverbial phrase) also use VSO order.
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[edit] Nouns
Nouns come in two grammatical genders: common and neuter, which determine their definite forms as well as the form of any adjectives used to describe them. Old Swedish formerly had masculine and feminine genders in place of common; some old phrases and ceremonial uses preserve these archaic forms. Noun gender is largely arbitrary and must be memorized.
There is a limited grammatical case system: pronouns have distinct nominative, accusative, and genitive forms. Regular nouns are alike in nominative and accusative; the genitive is formed regularly by adding -s (always last, after any suffix, such as plural or definite article). This "-s" genitive is really not a case, but a clitic. This case system is nearly identical to that used in English.
[edit] 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); åder (vein), ådror (veins).
- 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. In addition, endings -are and -iker belong to the fifth declension, -é, -else, -het, -(n)ad and -or to the third declension. 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.
- 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 words. 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. Certain nouns borrowed from Latin use Latin inflections. 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 similary irregular. Examples: gås (goose), gäss (geese); man (man), män (men); mus (mouse), möss (mice).
[edit] 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 is "en" for common nouns, and "ett" for neuter nouns, e.g. en flaska (a bottle), ett brev (a letter). The definite article is generally the suffixes "-(a)n" or "-(e)n" for common nouns, and "-(e)t" for neuter nouns.
The 5 declensions may be named -or, -ar, -er, -en, and null after their respective plural indefinite endings. Each noun has 4 forms: singular/plural, and definite/indefinite. So these 20 examples cover all regular Swedish noun forms:
| Declension | singular indef. | singular def. | plural indef. | plural def. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (-or) | en flaska | flaskan | flaskor | flaskorna |
| 2nd (-ar) | en buske | busken | buskar | buskarna |
| 3rd (-er) | en minut | minuten | minuter | minuterna |
| 4th (-en) | ett vittne | vittnet | vittnen | vittnena |
| 5th ( - ) | ett brev | brevet | brev | breven |
To all these forms an -s may be added to show genitive case.
[edit] 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 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".
[edit] Adjectives
The Swedish adjectives are declined according to the 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 plural or definite form, or both, adjectives get the suffix -a.
- en lång kvinna - a tall woman (lång - tall, kvinna - woman)
- den långa kvinnan - the tall woman
- långa kvinnor - tall women
- de långa kvinnorna - the tall women
- ett stort barn - a big child (stor - big, barn - child)
- det stora barnet - the big child
- stora barn - big children
- de stora barnen - the big children
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.
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
[edit] Numerals
[edit] Cardinal numbers
The numbers from zero to twelve in Swedish are:
- noll, ett, två, tre, fyra, fem, sex, sju, åtta, nio, tio, elva, tolv
The number 1 is the same as the indefinite article, as it inflects (en/ett) for a noun's gender. The Swedish numerals for 13 to 19 are below.
- tretton, fjorton, femton, sexton, sjutton, arton, nitton
The numerals for multiples of ten afterwards from 20 to 1000 are as follows:
- tjugo, trettio, fyrtio, femtio, sextio, sjuttio, åttio, nittio, (ett) hundra, (ett) tusen
The number nio, tio and tjugo are often pronounced with an e instead of an o at the end, and tjugo has a third form, tjugu, in some northern dialects, and tjugo also has a fourth form, tjugi, in some middle dialects. When compounded, tjugo usually drops the final syllable, thus tjusju = tjugosju (27). The words ending in -io (trettio, fyrtio ...) are most often pronounced without the final o. In fyrtio, it is mandatory to change the first vowel to ö (i.e. förtio).
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
The system is pretty straightforward once the underlying principles are understood. For each third multiple of 10, a new noun is used based on the Latin cardinal numbers:
10^ 3 tusen 10^ 6 miljon 10^ 9 miljard
10^12 biljon (2 * 6 = 12) 10^15 biljard (2 * 6 + 3 = 15)
10^18 triljon (3 * 6 = 18) 10^21 triljard (3 * 6 + 3 = 21)
10^24 kvadriljon (4 * 6 = 24) 10^27 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).
21 tjugoett (tjugo-ett)
147 etthundrafyrtiosju (ett-hundra-fyrtio-sju)
1 975 ettusen niohundrasjuttiofem (ett-tusen nio-hundra-sjuttio-fem)
10 874 tiotusen åttahundrasjuttiofyra (tio-tusen åtta-hundra-sjuttio-fyra)
100 557 etthundratusen femhundrafemtiosju (ett-hundra-tusen fem-hundra-femtio-sju)
1 378 971 en miljon trehundrasjuttioåttatusen niohundrasjuttioett (en miljon tre-hundra-sjuttio-åtta-tusen nio-hundra-sjuttio-ett)
The decimal point is written "," (comma) and pronounced like komma. The digits following the decimal point maybe 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 / delat med (genom)
The equal sign (=) is read either "är" (is), "är lika med" (is equal to) or "blir" (yields).
1 + 2 = 3 ==> ett plus två är tre 5 - 4 = 1 ==> fem minus fyra är ett 2 * 3 = 6 ==> två gånger tre är sex 8 / 4 = 2 ==> åtta delat med fyra är två
Rational numbers are read as the cardinal number of the numerator followed by the ordinal number of the denominator compounded with del/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)
tion(de)del elftedel tolftedel tretton(de)del fjorton(de)del femton(de)del sexton(de)del sjutton(de)del arton(de)del nitton(de)del tjugon(de)del
[to be completed]
[edit] Ordinal numbers
One to twelve:
- första, andra, tredje, fjärde, femte, sjätte, sjunde, åttonde, nionde, tionde, elfte, tolfte
Thirteen to nineteen:
Numerals, but with an additional -de ending, eg: trettonde, fjortonde.
20 to 90
- As numerals, but with an -nde ending, eg: Tjugonde, Trettionde
[edit] Function
[edit] Verbs
Verbs do not inflect for person or number. They inflect for present and past tense, and imperative 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, Supine, Past Participle. The only subjunctive form used in everyday speech is "vore", the past subjunctive of "vara" (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 is formed by appending "s" to the main verb in its current tense (any -r ending the present tense is first dropped). Perhaps because this is so simple in Swedish compared to English, Swedish uses the passive voice more frequently than English does.
[edit] Conjugating verbs
By one common system there are four classes of verbs, class I, II, III and IV.
In Class I verbs, the stem ends 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.
About 80% of all verbs in Swedish belong in Class I, which is the only productive verb class; i.e., all new verbs coming into Swedish will be of this class. Originally English verbs of this type are abundant in Swedish. Any English verb can be imported into Swedish and an a is added at the end, sometimes with minor spelling changes. The verb is then treated as a class I verb. Examples of modern loans within the IT field are (with the English verb in parentheses): boota, chatta, copya, deleta (delete), downloada, loada, sejva (save), surfa ...
In the paradigm below the forms are the stem, infinitive, present tense, past tense, supine, and past participle. The imperative is the same as the stem.
- kalla-, kalla, kallar, kallade, kallat, kallad (to call)
Class II has stems ending in a consonant, and adds -er in the present. The infinitive ends in -a.
- lev-, leva, lever, levde, levt, levd (to live)
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.
- ske-, ske, sker, skedde, skett, skedd (to occur, happen)
Class IV is comprised of the Germanic strong verbs. Here is one example.
- finn-, finna, finner, fann, funnit, funnen (to find)
As in all the Germanic languages, there are strong verbs, which 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, "stryka/streichen/strike":
| Language | Infinitive | present | preterite | supine | past participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swedish | stryka (to iron, to bar) | stryker | strök | strukit | struken |
| German | streichen (to cancel) | streichen | strich | gestrichen | |
| English | strike (to strike) | strike(s) | struck | stricken |
[edit] Supine form
The Supine (supinum) form is used in Swedish to form the composite past form of a verb. In verb conjugations I-III the supine is identical to the neuter form of the past participle. In the fourth conjugation 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, which were made in the 16th century.
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.
[edit] 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. There is a similar form in Swedish that uses the supine instead of the perfect participle: Han fick målat dörren (He [finally] painted the door himself). This is not a passive variant, but has a modal meaning. It often indicates that the subject was reluctant to act.
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 has been painted)
[edit] Adverbs
An adjective can be transformed into an adverb by adding the suffix "-t".
- tjock (thick, fat) -> tjockt (thickly)
- snabb (quick) -> snabbt (quickly)
[edit] Prepositions
Prepositions: Locators in Time and Place
Prepositions of location:
- Råttan dansar på bordet. (The rat dances on the table) på - on
- Musen dansar under bordet. (The mouse dances under the table) under - under
- Kålle arbetar i Göteborg. (Kålle works in Gothenburg) i - in
- Ada har åkt till Göteborg. (Ada has gone to Gothenburg) till - to
Prepositions of time:
- Vi ses på rasten. (See you at the break) på - at
- De var alltid trötta före rasten. (They were always tired before the break) före - before
- Kan vi ha rast om en timme? (May we have a break in an hour?) om - in
- Kan vi ha rast i en timme? (May we have a break for one hour?) i - for
The Swedish language also has causal prepositions:
- Kålle är glad över att ha träffat Ada. (Kålle is happy about having met Ada) över - about
- Kålle är nöjd med Ada. (Kålle is pleased with Ada) med - with
- Kålle är trött på Ada. (Kålle is tired of Ada) på - of
- 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. But there are a few exceptions:
- riket runt (around the Kingdom) runt - around
- bröder emellan (between brothers) emellan - between
- Det är Ada jag tänker på (It's Ada that I'm thinking of) på - of
[edit] 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 precede the noun they determine. 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).
Clause A
- Fundament
- Verb1
- Subject (if not fundament)
- Clausal Adverb/Negation
- Verb2 (infinitive or supinum)
- Object
- Spatial Adverb
- Temporal Adverb
if the sentence has a subordinate clause, it will continue from the above:
Clause B
- Conjunction
- Subject
- Clausal Adverb/Negation
- Verb1
- Verb2 (infinitive or supinum)
- Object
- Spatial Adverb
- Temporal Adverb
The "Fundament" is either an adverb, or adverbial phrase, that may be spatial, temporal, or clausal, or the subject.
