- •Björn Engdahl’s Swedish Course
- •I will mark polysyllabic words employing the acute accent with an apostrophe (') behind the stressed syllable.
- •Vowels: (all comparisons to English refer to the British pronunciation)
- •Vocabulary
- •Regular verbs, infinitive and present tense
- •Pronunciation
- •Vocabulary
- •I will write the full forms when we come across a noun that differs from the rule.
- •Pronunciation
- •In English, you often form a question by rewriting with do. That is not possible in Swedish. Instead, you reverse the word order (as in English Are you fine?). Often you use a question word as well.
- •Vocabulary
- •Here are the endings:
- •Vocabulary
- •Ireggular verbs:
- •I am helping you - Jag hjälper dig. He is eating food - Han äter mat.
- •Irregular polysyllabic verbs often attach -en to their supine stem. But for many verbs, you just have to memorize the form
- •Some conjunctions:
- •Subordinate clauses
Some conjunctions:
-
att [at]
that
som [såm]
who(m), that, which
eftersom [efter'såm] därför att ['därför]
since
fastän ['fastän]
although
för att
in order to
så att
so that
innan [*inan]
before
om [åm]
if
då [då:]
as
medan [*me:dan]
while
The Swedish word order differs in some way from that of the English language. In English, the word order is straight, except for phrases like "I want to leave", said John. In Swedish, the word order is straight too, as long as the subject + verb aren't preceded by anything in the sentence. But as soon as an expression precedes the subject + verb, the word order gets reversed. It could be any word, an indication of time or place or anything.
-
Jag kom igår
- Igår kom jag
Jag bor där
- Där bor jag
Man talar svenska i Sverige
- I Sverige talar man svenska
Subordinate clauses
In normal clauses the modifier is placed after its verb.
I never come - Jag kommer aldrig I don't come - Jag kommer inte
But in a subordinate clause, the modifier is placed before its verb.
He says, that I never come - Han säger, att jag aldrig kommer He says, that I don't come - Han säger, att jag inte kommer
The conjunction som is used as English that, who, which
The ball that I look at - Bollen som jag tittar på The person who helped me - Personen som hjälpte mig The person by whom I was helped - Personen som jag hjälptes av That's the house at which we were looking - Det är huset som vi tittade på
Reflexive verbs / pronouns
Reflexive verbs are verbs like to wash oneself. They require a reflexive pronoun. In Swedish they are:
-
Jag
mig
Du
dig
Han/Hon Den/Det
sig
Vi
oss
Ni
er
De
sig
In Swedish, to wash oneself is tvätta sig. Thus, I wash myself would be - Jag tvättar mig etc.
The Imperative
The imperative is used to give orders, like be quiet, come here. It is very easily formed in Swedish. You just take the stem of the verb. The only irregular form is vara whose imperative form is var.
Come here - Kom hit Help me - Hjälp mig Be happy - Var glad
Exercise - Translate the following sentences into Swedish
1 - Yesterday, he washed his big hands, since they were dirty. 2 - Yesterday, he washed himself carefully. 3 - In two days, she will see her brothers and sisters. 4 - If she intend to come, I will help her. 5 - Go there, in order to help your mother. 6 - Buy the big house, although you don't like it.