Plurals 1

There are (of course) different suffixes that indicate plurality in Swedish. They are the following:

-or, -ar, no plural, and -er, -r, -n, -on.

NOTE: In order to learn the plurals you may have to refresh your memory of the noun genders, i.e. EN- and ETT-words.

I'm going to divide this plural chapter into two parts. Let's start with the EN-words shall we!! 

*we are removing the last letter in the word ”lärare” because it’s a vowel.

TRANSLATE TO ENGLISH:

1. Pojkarna stirrar.

2. Min lärare är snäll.

3. Jag älskar cyniker.

4. Flickorna äter fisk.

TRANSLATE TO SWEDISH:

1. You (sing.) eat monkeys.

2. I love the teachers.

3. We stare at the comedians.

4. A cow has four stomachs

VOCABULARY

apa (monkey)

att ha (to have)

att stirra (to stare)

att äta (to eat)

fisk (fish)

fyra (four)

ko (cow)

komiker (comedian)

mage (stomach)

på (at, on)

snäll (nice, kind)

it!!

It’s time to introduce you to a very important word: it ! It describes a definite noun you are already talking about. As almost always in Swedish, it is different depending on the gender (if it's an EN- or ETT-word) of what you are referring to.

Den = it for EN-words 

Det = it for ETT-words

TRANSLATE TO SWEDISH!

I love my ring. I love it. =

There is a dog in the house. =

The car, where is it? =

It is cold. =

VOCABULARY

att finnas (to be/exist/occur)

att mena (to mean)

att regna (to rain)  

bil (car)  

hund (dog) 

kall/kallt (cold) NOTE! YES! Adjectives does also change depending on the gender!!

troll (troll)  

trött på (tired/sick of)

Possessives

Possessives are indicating who is in possession of something, for example ”The book is mine”. 
The possessives are changing depending on the gender (en-/ett-words).

(NOTE 1: This is a very simplified explanation!)
(NOTE 2: In the "PLURAL" column you'll find words indicating that the possession contains several things.  For example: mina flickor = my girls, or våra flickor = our girls.

EXAMPLES:

Mitt hus är ditt hus = My house is your house

Hon älskar hans manlighet = She loves his manliness

Vår katt älskar dina hundar = Our cat loves your dogs

Er lärare är en kvinna = Your (pl) teacher is a woman

Translate to Swedish!

His cat loves me =

The dog is hers =

They love your (singular) house =

I love my children =

You (pl) love our houses =

NOTE!!! Some words don't change in plural! (We'll talk about that in another post!)

VOCABULARY
singular  hus  plural hus (house, houses) 
singular  hund  plural hundar (dog, dogs)
singular  barn  plural barn (child, children)

Sincerely,

Madeleine

Exercise: Gender

PRACTICE!

Is it an EN-word or an ETT-word? 

the situation =

a ring =

a slaughterhouse =

the manliness =

the child =

a battery =

the liquid =

a fisherman =

the dog =

the freedom =

VOCABULARY

hund (dog)  

fiskare (fisherman)

manlighet (manliness)  

ring (ring)

vätska (liquid)  

batteri (battery)

situation (situation)  

frihet (freedom)

slakteri (slaughterhouse)  

barn (child)


Sincerely,
Madeleine

Gender

Swedish nouns have two genders:

Neutrum, also called EN-WORDS (EN)

Utrum, also called ETT-WORDS (ETT)

EN= Word that in definite (”the”-) form ends with the suffix -(e*)n.

ETT= Word that in definite ("the"-) form end with the suffix -(e*)t.

*beware! words ending on a consonant will need a "help vowel" in their definite form. see ”grisen”, ”huset” and ”bordet” in the examples below!)

So....

__________________________________________________________________________

Unfortunately, the logic or reason behind the gender of each word in Swedish is unclear. Here are some general rules (with exceptions of course…) though:

Sincerely, 

Madeleine

Pronouns

Pronouns are (generally) words you use to refer to nouns, individuals or things mentioned earlier in a conversation (you assume that "the receiver" knows who or what you're talking about).

Below I've written a list of pronouns in Swedish and English, and I have also marked out the S- (Subject) and O- (Object) forms respectively. 

EXAMPLES:

Jag älskar dig = I love you

Hon älskar honom = She loves him

Vi älskar dem = We love them

Ni älskar oss = You (plural) love us

De älskar mig = They love me

Du älskar henne = You (singular) love her

Han älskar er = He loves you (plural)

TRANSLATE TO SWEDISH:

You (singular) love me =

We love you (plural) =

They love him =

She loves us =

Sincerely,

Madeleine

Introduction to Swedish

Swedish is, just like English (and 43% of the world's languages) a so-called SVO language. This simply means that a sentence is created in this order:

S = SUBJECT (THE ATTACKER, MAIN CHARACTER)

V = VERB (THE ACTION)

O = OBJECT (THE VICTIM)

The ”S” is the one "doing the verb", the main character, in a sentence, the "V" is the action and the "O" is the victim of the action. Example:

”Jag älskar dig” = I love you

JAG = I; SUBJECT (THE ONE LOVING)

ÄLSKAR = LOVE; VERB (ACTION)

DIG = YOU; OBJECT (THE VICTIM OF THE LOVE)

       S               V              O

SUBJECT   VERB     OBJECT

        I           LOVE       YOU

    JAG       ÄLSKAR    DIG

However, the syntax (the word order) changes whether the sentence is a statement or a question...but that's for another day. 

Sincerely,

Madeleine

My first attempt...

...to start a language blog! In this blog, I - Madeleine, will do my best to teach you Swedish. I am not a teacher or have any previous pedagogical experience. Good luck!! (swe: Lycka till!)

Sincerely,
Madeleine