Vocabulary

 

detsamma [de'sama]	you too
också ['åkså]	also
därför ['därför]	that's why...
vilka ['vi(l)ka]	what, which (plur.)
vems [vems]	whose
hit [hi:t]	here (direction, hither)
dit [di:t]	there (direction, thither)
nästa [*nästa]	next
i morgon [i*mårån]	tomorrow
igår [i'gå:r]	yesterday
efter ['efter]	after

 

  Nouns

 

en klock|a -or [*klåka]	watch, clock
en timm|e -ar [*time]	hour
en minut -er [mi'nu:t]	minute
en sekund -er [se'kund]	second
en mamm|a -or [*mama]	mum
en papp|a -or [*papa]	dad
en mor -mödrar [mo:r]	mother
en far -fäder [*fa:r]	father
en bro|r -der+ [bro:r]	brother
en syst|er -rar [*syster]	sister
ett syskon - [*syskon]	sibling
ett språk - [språ:k]	language
ett bröd - [brö:d]	bread
en morfar [*morfar]	grandfather (mother's side)
en mormor [*mormor]	grandmother (mother's side)
en farfar [*farfar]	grandfather (father's side)
en farmor [*farmor]	grandmother (father's side)
en somm|ar -rar [*såmar]	summer
en höst -ar [höst]	autumn
en vint|er -rar ['vinter]	winter
en vår -ar [vå:r]	spring

 

  Verbs

 

gilla (1) [*jila]	to like
springa (i) [*spriga]	to run
ge (i) [je:]	to give
beställa (2) [be'stäla]	to order (food etc.)
betala (1) [be'ta:la]	to pay
veta (i) [*ve:ta]  present tense: vet	to know
resa (2) [*re:sa]	to travel
åka (2) [*å:ka]	to go
bli (i) [bli:]	to become, be
komma (i) [*kåma]	to come

 

  Adjectives

 

lång [låg]	long
kort [kåt]	short
snabb [snab]	fast
långsam [*lågsam]	slow
dyr [dy:r]	expensive
billig [*bilig]	cheap
rolig [*ro:lig]	funny
tråkig [*trå:kig]	boring
dålig [*då:lig]	bad
brun [bru:n]	brown
grå [grå:]	grey
halv [halv]	half

 

  Negations

Making a statement negative in Swedish is very simple. You just insert the word inte (=not). Where should you insert it then? Well, it depends on what you want to emphasize in the sentence, but the following rule is quite general, and should work in almost all cases.

• If the word order is straight (subject + verb), inte is to be inserted after the conjugated verb.

Jag äter - Jag äter inte Jag skulle vilja äta här - Jag skulle inte vilja äta här

• If the word order is reversed, (verb + subject) in qustions for example, inte is to be inserted after the subject. You could insert it before the the subject as well, if you want to emphasize that inte refers to that particular subject.

Gör du det? - Gör du inte det? - Gör inte du det? (Emphasizing that you aren't doing it) Skulle du vilja äta här? - Skulle du inte vilja äta här? - Skulle inte du vilja äta här?  

Genetive - Possessive Pronouns

The Genitive is formed very easily in Swedish. You just add -s to the noun. Note that there shall be no genitive apostrophy as in English. If the noun already ends with -s or -z, no additional -s is added in the genitive.

Eriks bok - Eric's book Anders bok - Anders' book Bilens färg - The color of the car Pojkarnas vänner - The friends of the boys

The possessive pronouns have, as in French and German, different forms depending on the the number and gender of the noun.

 

	sing. com.g.	sing. neu.	plural
Jag	Min [min]	Mitt [mit]	Mina [*mi:na]
Du	Din [din]	Ditt [dit]	Dina [*di:na]
Han	Hans [hans]  Sin [sin]	Hans [hans]  Sitt [sit]	Hans [hans]  Sina [*si:na]
Hon	Hennes [*henes]  Sin [sin]	Hennes [*henes]  Sitt [sit]	Hennes [*henes]  Sina [*si:na]
Den	Dess [des]  Sin [sin]	Dess [des]  Sitt [sit]	Dess [des]  Sina [*si:na]
Det	Dess [des]  Sin [sin]	Dess [des]  Sitt [sit]	Dess [des]  Sina [*si:na]
Vi	Vår [vå:r]	Vårt [vå:t]	Våra [*vå:ra]
Ni	Er [e:r]	Ert [e:t]	Era [*e:ra]
De	Deras [*de:ras]  Sin [sin]	Deras [*de:ras]  Sitt [sit]	Deras [*de:ras]  Sina [*si:na]

 

 

• The forms sin, sitt and sina are when the noun is referring directly back to the subject of the same sentence. They can never be used as subjects themselves.

Carl och hans pappa bor i Sverige.                 -   Carl and his dad live in Swden Carl bor i Sverige med sin Pappa.                   -   Carl lives in Sweden with his dad. Lisa, Anne och deras pappor bor i Sverige.     -   Lisa, Anne and their dads live in Swden Lisa och Anne bor i Sverige med sina pappor. -   Lisa and Anne live in Sweden with their dads.

• Note that there are no such forms corresponding to the English mine or yours. In Swedish, we don't distinguish between whether the possessive pronoun is followed by a noun or not.

Det här är min bok - Boken är min = This is my book- The book is mine Är det där vårt hus? - Ja, det är vårt = Is that our house? - Yes, it is ours. Det här är dina saker - Dessa saker är dina = These are your things - These things are yours

  Objective Pronouns

In the sentence The men love the cars, you can't tell whether it is the men or the cars who love by just studying the forms of the nouns. Though, this word order automatically makes clear that it is the men who love and the cars who are loved. Thus, "the men" are the subject and "the cars" are the direct object. Some languages, German for example, have different forms for the direct objects. (Der Mann sieht den Ball - Der Ball sieht den Mann) The only place where English uses an objective form is the pronouns. If I said Her I love, there would be no doubt what was meant, though you normally would say I love her. The Swedish objective pronouns are:  

 

Subject	Object
Jag	Mig [mej]
Du	Dig [dej]
Han	Honom [*hånåm]
Hon	Henne [*hene]
Den	Den
Det	Det
Vi	Oss [ås]
Ni	Er [e:r]
De	Dem [dem] is almost  always pronounced [dåm]

 

  Telling the time

If you want to know what time it is, you ask:

Vad är klockan? = What time is it?

Or as a whole phrase:

Ursäkta mig, vet du vad klockan är? = Excuse me, do you know what time it is?

Then, if you're lucky you'll get a response like this:

 

	Den (klockan) är tolv.
	Den är fem över ett.
	Den är kvart över två.
	Den är fem i halv fyra.
	Den är halv fem.
	Den är fem över halv sex.
	Den är tjugo i sju.
	Den är kvart i åtta.

 

 

Note that in Swedish, it is "half to", and not as in English "half past".  

Exercises

• Vad är klockan?

1 - 9:30 2 - 1:40 3 - 10:35 4 - 5:15 5 - 12:25 6 - 3:20

• Translate the following sentences into Swedish

1 - Don't you love me? 2 - Don't you love me either? (either = heller) 3 - Do you have our boring books in your big house? 4 - Is he coming to us next summer? 5 - I would like to reserve that nice table for the two of us. 6 - I wouldn't like to give him my money.

Lesson 5

Vocabulary

mer(a) ['me:r(a)]	more
mest [mest]	most
än [än]	than
lika...som [li:ka] [såm]	as...as
för...sedan [fö:r] [sen]	ago
om [åm]	in (time)
i [i:]	for (time)
under ['under]	during
innan [*inan]	before
ett år - [å:r]	year
en väg -ar [vä:g]	way/road

Adjectives - Compare

The comparative forms of a Swedish adjective is formed in almost the same ways as is an English adjective. In English, you can either add -er and -est (high, higher, highest), or you can say more and most (boring, more boring, most boring). In Swedish, you add -are and -ast where possible, and otherwise, you say mer and mest.

• The adjective kort is thus compared like this:

kort- kortare - kortast

• The adjective intressant = interesting is like in English compared with more and most:

intressant - mer intressant - mest intressant

• Adjectives ending with unstressed -en, -er or -el drop their e (like with the definite article).

vacker - vackrare - vackrast trogen - trognare - trognast (=faithful)

• Some adjectives are irregular and some have umlaut:

liten - mindre - minst dålig - sämre - sämst bra - bättre - bäst stor - större - störst lång - längre - längst hög - högre - högst mycket - mer(a) - mest

• If you want to say the best car, you have to inflect the adjective, and here it's the weak pattern that is to be used. Regular adjectives attach -e, irregular ones attach -a. Adjectives in the second form never inflect.

den korta bilen den kortare bilen den kortaste bilen den vackra bilen den vackrare bilen den vackraste bilen den dåliga bilen den sämre bilen den sämsta bilen

• The adjective liten has the first form lilla when it is inflected weakly.

ett litet barn det lilla barnet

• The expression as...as is lika...som in Swedish

Mitt hus är lika stort som ditt. - My house is as big as yours.

Verbs - The Imperfect and the Perfect tense

Swedish is very similair to English in constructing the past tenses. And the tenses are also employed pretty much the same way in both languages. The perfect tense consists of the present tense of the verb ha (to have) + the supine form of the main verb. As in English, you get the past perfect by using the imperfect form of ha instead of the present tense. The imperfect is formed by attaching a suffix to the stem.

Group 1+2:

• The imperfect tense is formed by adding -de to the stem, unless the stem ends with a voiceless consonant (f, k, p, s, t etc.) then you attach -te.

• The supine is formed by attaching -t to the stem.