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.

Question words

vem [vem] vilka ['vi(l)ka]	who (sing.) who (plur.)
vad [va:d]	what
var [va:r]	where
vart [vat]	where (to)
hur [hu:r]	how
vilken / vilket ['vi(l)ken] / ['vi(l)ket]	what / which
varifrån [va:ri'frå:n]	where...from
varför ['varfö:r]	why

 

Examples:

Varifrån är du?	Where are you from?
Vad heter hon?	What is her name?
Vem är du?	Who are you?
Vilka är de?	Who are they?
Var bor du?	Where do you live?
Vart går du?	Where are you going (to)?
Varför gör vi så?	Why do we do like that?
Vilket land bor ni i?	What country do you live in?
Vilken stad bor ni i?	What city do you live in?
Köper du bollen?	Do you buy the ball?

 

 Exercise - Translate the following sentences into Swedish

Are you from Sweden? Does he love food?. Where is the house situated? How do I go to the station? Is there a shop here? I am from England.

Lesson 3

Vocabulary

Jag skulle vilja... [ja:g *skule *vilja]	I would like to...
höger ['hö:ger]	right
vänster ['vänster]	left
rakt fram [ra:kt fram]	straight forward
norr [når]	north
söder ['sö:der]	south
öster ['öster]	east
väster ['väster]	west
flera ['fle:ra]	lots of
många [*måga]	many
den här / denna [den hä:r] / [*dena]	this (com.g.)
det här / detta [de: hä:r] / [*deta]	this (neu.)
de här / dessa [dom hä:r] / [*desa]	these
den där [den dä:r]	that (com.g.)
det där [de: dä:r]	that (neu.)
de där [dom dä:r]	those

Note that the definite form of the noun is to be used after den här / de där etc. and that the indefinite form is to be used after denna/detta and dessa.

Numbers 10-100

elva [*elva]	11
tolv [tålv]	12
tretton [*trettån]	13
fjorton [*fjotån]	14
femton [*femtån]	15
sexton [*sekstån]	16
sjutton [*sutån]	17
arton [*atån]	18
nitton [*nitån]	19
tjugo [*ku:go]	20
tjugoett [ku:'et]	21
tjugotvå [ku:'två:] etc.	22
trettio [*treti]	30
trettioett [treti'et] etc.	31
fyrtio [*föti]	40
femtio [*femti]	50
sextio [*seksti]	60
sjuttio [*suti]	70
åttio [*åti]	80
nittio [*niti]	90
hundra ['hundra]	100

Nouns 3 - Plural indefinite

The plural form of Swedish nouns isn't as easy as that of an English noun, where you just add an s. Swedish nouns are more like German nouns. We attach different suffixes for different nouns. In some cases, you could tell what suffix be added just by looking at the noun, and in some cases you just have to memorize the suffix for each noun.