Here are the endings:

Common genders -

• Almost all com.g. ending with an a and some others as well attach -or.

en flick|a - flera flickor en gat|a - flera gator (=street) en ros - flera rosor (=rose)

• The majority of com.g. not ending with an a attach -ar.

en pojk|e - flera pojkar en dag - flera dagar (=day)

• Quite a lot of com.g add -er.

en rad - flera rader (=row, not quarrel) en doktor - flera doktorer (=doctor)

• A few com.g. are irregular and have umlaut (marked with a cross) a gets ä, o gets ö, ä gets å. Some just add an r

en bok - flera böcker en stad - flera städer en sko - flera skor (=shoe) en man - flera män

Neuters:

Those were the common genders, the neuters are much easier.

• Almost all neuters ending with a vowel add -n.

ett äpple - flera äpplen (=apple)

• Almost all neuters ending with a consonant don't add anything. (Not those ending with -um)

ett fönster - flera fönster ett träd - flera träd

• A few add -r

ett fängelse - flera fängelser (=prison)

• Those ending with -um substitute that for an a.

ett fakt|um - flera fakta (=fact)

• Two common, irregular neuters are:

ett ög|a - flera ögon (=eye) ett ör|a - flera öron (=ear)

Plural definite

Well, that was the plural indefinite, and now we're coming to the plural definite! How do you think that is formed? You're right, by adding a suffix of course! But don't worry. It is not very complicated at all.

• All nouns attach -na except those having attached no plural indefinite suffix. They get -en. (Very few exceptions to this rule if any.

Example:

sing. indefinite	sing. definite	plur. indefinite	plur. definite
en flicka	flickan	flickor	flickorna
en pojke	pojken	pojkar	pojkarna
en sak	saken	saker	sakerna
ett barn	barnet	barn	barnen
ett öga (irregular)	ögat	ögon	ögonen
ett äpple	äpplet	äpplen	äpplena
ett rum	rummet	rum	rummen

Pronunciation

The pronunciation could in some cases be more important than you think. For example such a small difference as *anden and 'anden completely changes the meaning of the word. *Anden means the spirit and 'anden means the duck. Quite embarrassing for a priest to say the holy duck instead of the holy spirit, isn't it?

The pronunciation of the plural isn't very difficult. All words having to syllables after having added the plural suffix employ the grave accent. (Not the irregular ones with umlaut - they employ the accute accent).

*flicka - *flickor 'dag - *dagar 'bok - 'böcker

All others, those with more than two syllables keep the stress as it is in the singular.

filoso'fi - filoso'fier (=philosophy)

The definite suffixes -na and -en don't change the pronunciation.

Some more nouns:

en restaurang -er [restu:'rag]	restaurant
en not|a -or [*no:ta]	bill
en dryck -er [dryk]	drink
en frukost -er ['frukåst]	breakfast
en lunch -er [luns]	lunch
en middag -ar ['mida]	dinner
byxor (plural) [*byksor]	pants
en skjort|a -or [*sota]	shirt
en tröj|a -or [*tröja]	sweater
en hand -er+ [hand]	hand
en fot -ter+ [fo:t]	foot
ett mynt - [mynt]	coin
en biljett -er [bil'jet]	ticket
en tunnelban|a -or [*tunel'ba:na]	underground
en buss -ar [bus]	bus

Adjectives

As in German and French, the adjectives inflect depending on the number and gendrer of the noun they describe. There are also, as in German, a weak and strong inflection. The weak inflection is used after Denna / Det här etc. The strong inflection is used after en, ett and after words that don't tell the gender of the noun.

Weak inflection:

stor (=big)	Singular:	Plural:
com.g:	Den här stora bollen	De här stora bollarna
neuter:	Det här stora huset	De här stora husen

Very easy! You just add an a after the adjective and pronounce it with the grave accent on the syllable preceding the a. Note that you have to use the pronoun den / det / de if you want to put a noun in the definite form which is preceded by an adjective.

The big boy = Den stora pojken (Not juststora pojken) The big house = Det stora huset (Not just stora huset)

Strong inflection:

stor (=big)	Singular:	Plural:
com.g:	en stor boll.	två stora bollar
neuter:	ett stort hus	två stora hus

Not very difficult either. You add a t on neu. sing. and a on all plurals. A few irregular forms do exist however.

• Adjectives ending with -d or -dd substitute these letters for -tt in the neuter form, unstressed -n is substituted for -t.

en röd boll - ett rött hus(röd=red) en liten boll - ett litet hus

• Adjectives ending with -ad attach an e instead of an a.

en intresserad kvinna - den intresserade kvinnan - två intresserade kvinnor (intresserad=interesting)

• The adjective bra (=good / well) doesn't inflect at all

en bra bok - ett bra hus

Some adjectives

stor [sto:r]	big
liten [*li:ten]	small
vacker ['vaker]	beautiful
trevlig [*tre:vlig]	nice
ful [fu:l]	ugly
snäll [snäl]	kind
röd [rö:d]	red
gul [gu:l]	yellow
blå [blå:]	blue
grön [grö:n]	green
rosa ['råsa] (doesn't inflect)	pink
vit [vi:t]	white
svart [svat]	black
ren [re:n]	clean
smutsig [*smutsi(g)]	dirty

Exercise - Translate the following sentences into Swedish

He has a big head. I see many yellow shirts. We live in a red house. Why do you have 52 blue hands. The nice girls are very beautiful. I would like to pay for this nice dinner.

Lesson 4