- •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
Vocabulary
-
och [ok]
and
inte [*inte]
not
Sverige ['sverje]
Sweden
här [hä:r]
here
där [dä:r]
there
nu [nu:]
now
idag [i'da:g]
today
lite [*li:te]
a little
bara [*ba:ra]
only / just
mycket [*myke(t)]
a lot
svenska [*svenska]
Swedish
England ['egland]
England
engelska ['egelska]
English
Hur står det till? [hu:r stå:r de til]
How do you do?
pengar ['pegar]
money
eller ['eler]
or
Nouns 2
In English, German and French e.g., the definite form of a noun is constructed by a definite article. The definit form of the noun table for example, is obtained by adding the - the table, German - Der Tisch, French - La table etc.
In Swedish, the definite form is obtained by attaching a suffix (ending) to the noun. The suffixes are -(e)n for common genders and -(e)t for neuters. The e is often dropped when the noun ends in a vowel.
Example:
-
The noun
sg. indefinite
sg. definite
book
en bok
boken
girl
en flicka
flickan
boy
en pojke
pojken
rose
en ros
rosen
house
ett hus
huset
table
bord
bordet
eye
öga
ögat
As you can see, you drop the e if the noun ends with a vowel. The same as to common gender nouns ending with an unstressed -r or -l.
Example:
en 'djungel - djungeln en 'doktor - doktorn
Some neuters ending with an unstressed -er or -el drop their e preceding the r or t.
Example:
ett 'fönster - fönstret ett 'kapitel - kapitlet (meaning chapter)
Some nouns double their last consonant so as to keep their pronunciation.
Example:
ett rum - rummet
I will write the full forms when we come across a noun that differs from the rule.
Pronunciation
Nouns normally keep their stress in the definite form.
Example:
*flicka - *flickan ho'tell - ho'tellet 'bok - 'boken
Some more nouns
-
ett hus [hu:s]
house
en teve [*te:ve]
television
mat (c.g.) [ma:t]
food
vatten (neu.) ['vaten]
water
ett land [land]
country
en stad [sta:d]
city
en affär [a'fä:r]
shop
en station [sta'son]
station
ett huvud [*hu:vud]
head
en arm [arm]
arm
ett ben [be:n]
leg / bone
en bil [bi:l]
car
en båt [bå:t]
boat
ett tåg [tå:g]
train
ett flygplan [*fly:gpla:n]
plane
Some prepositions
-
på [på:]
on
i [i:]
in
från [frå:n]
from
av [a:v]
of / by
om [åm]
about
till [til]
to
med [me:d]
with
Some more verbs
-
gå (i) [gå:]
to go
göra (i) [*jö:ra] present tense gör
to do / to make
bo (2) [bo:]
to live
ligga (i) [*liga]
to lie, be situated
det finns (i) [de: fins] (present tense)
there is / are
svänga (2) [*sväga]
to turn
förstå (i) [fö'stå:]
to understand
Forming questions