- •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
Regular verbs, infinitive and present tense
All polysyllabic Swedish verbs end with an a in the infinitive. (Others, those of one syllable end with any vowel.) There are two conjugations of regular verbs - group 1 adding an r to the stem in the present tense and group two adding er to the stem. The Swedish word corresponding to the English to in to go for example is att.
Example:
-
Group 1:
Verb:
Tala (to speak)
Group 2:
Verb:
Köpa (to buy)
Stem:
Tala-
Stem:
Köp-
Present tense:
Talar
Present tense:
Köper
Group 1:
Verb:
Älska (to love)
Group 2:
Verb:
Hjälpa (to help)
Stem:
Älska-
Stem:
Hjälp-
Present tense:
Älskar
Present tense:
Hjälper
And as I said before, the verbs conjugate in the same way in all persons.
Almost all irregular verbs form their present tense as does groupe 2.
Example:
skriva (to write) skriv- + er = skriver han skriver = He writes
The verb vara (to be) and ha (to have) are irregular and have the forms är and har in the present tense. (Jag är = I am, Jag har = I have)
Monosyllabic verbs are almost always irregular and form the present tense by adding an r.
Example:
se (to see) se + r = ser hon ser = she sees
Pronunciation
Now we're back to that pronunciation again! Two-syllabic verbs all have the grave accent in the infinitive. Verbs with three or more syllables often have the accute accent on the second last syllable.
In the present tense, group 1 verbs with two syllables all have the grave accent and all others of two syllabels have the accute accent on the first syllable. Almost all verbs of more than two syllables stress the second-last syllable with an accute accent.
Example:
Tala (1) = [*ta:la], Talar = [*ta:lar]
Köpa (2) = [*kö:pa], Köper = ['kö:per]
Skriva (i) = [*skri:va], Skriver = ['skri:ver]
Diskutera (1) = [disku:'te:ra], Diskuterar = [disku:'te:rar] (diskutera = discuss)
Some verbs:
-
Tala (1) [*ta:la]
to speak
Prata (1) [*pra:ta]
to talk
Studera (1) [stu:'de:ra]
to study
Älska (1) [*älska]
to love
Köpa (2) [*kö:pa]
to buy
Hjälpa (2) [*hjälpa]
to help
Skriva (i) [*skri:va]
to write
Äta (i) [ä:ta]
to eat
Vara (i) [*va:ra] Present tense = är [ä:r]
to be
Heta (2) [*he:ta]
like "to have the name"
Ringa (2) [*riga]
to call
Se (i) [se:]
to see
Now that you know some verbs and nouns, you could construct more advanced sentences such as
Jag heter Björn Engdahl = My name is Björn Engdahl Han köper en boll = He buys a ball
Exercise - Translate the following sentences into Swedish
A boy writes a postcard They help a woman You (sing.) love a man She studies Swedish (=svenska) We buy a stamp You (plur.) see it. (ref. to the table)
Lesson 2