- •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
Ireggular verbs:
As this group consists of irregular verbs, you can't give any rule what forms there are. But in the imperfect, most verbs get no suffix. They just change the stem-vowel. In the supine, most verbs change the stem-vowel again, and attach -it or -at.
Example:
-
Verb:
Stem:
Imperfect:
Supine:
Perfect:
Past perfect:
tala (1)
tala-
talade
talat
har talat
hade talat
ringa (2)
ring-
ringde
ringt
har ringt
hade ringt
köpa (2)
köp-
köpte
köpt
har köpt
hade köpt
vara (i)
var-
var
varit
har varit
hade varit
springa (i) (=to run)
spring-
sprang
sprungit
har sprungit
hade sprungit
komma (i)
komm-
kom
kommit
har kommit
hade kommit
ha (i)
ha-
hade
haft
har haft
hade haft
göra (i)
gör-
gjorde
gjort
har gjort
hade gjort
bli (i)
bli-
blev
blivit
har blivit
hade blivit
äta (i)
ät-
åt
ätit
har ätit
hade ätit
se (i)
se-
såg
sett
har sett
hade sett
You can take a look at my List of irregular Swedish verbs.
Exercise - Translate the following sentences into Swedish
1 - I was in Sweden ten years ago. 2 - For how many years have you been here? 3 - What did you do before you came here? 4 - I had bought the ten biggest cars before they saw me. 5 - He ran the shortest way to the better of the two restaurants.
Lesson 6
Vocabulary - Numbers 101 - ...
-
(ett) hundraett [hundra'et]
101
(ett) hundratvå [hundra'två:] etc.
102
två hundra
200
två hundraett etc.
201
tre hundra etc.
300
(ett) tusen ['tu:sen]
1.000
två tusen etc.
2.000
en miljon [mil'jo:n]
1.000.000
en miljard [mil'ja:d]
1.000.000.000
en biljon [bil'jo:n]
1.000.000.000.000
en biljard [bil'ja:d]
1.000.000.000.000.000
en triljon [tril'jo:n]
1.000.000.000.000.000.000
en triljard [tril'jad]
1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000
Note: When counting we always say ett, tjogoett, hundraett etc. But if the number is followed by a noun we use the en-form.
en bil - ett fönster = one car - one window tjogoen bilar - tjugoen fönster = 21 cars - 21 window År nittonhundraett = In 1901
-
brinna (i) [*brina]
to burn
en eld -ar [eld]
fire
ta (i) [ta:]
to take
kosta (1) [*kåsta]
to cost
ett brev - [bre:v]
letter
någon(t), några [*nå:gån]
some
en gång -er [gåg]
time (four times e.g.)
tänka (2) [*tänka]
think
viktig [*viktig]
important
person [pe'so:n]
person
läsa (2) [*lä:sa]
to read
The present participle
The present participle in English is formed by attaching -ing to the verb (a walking man). In Swedish it's almost as simple as that. You attach -nde to the infinitive of polysyllabic verbs, and -ende to the infinitive of monosyllabic verbs.
a burning fire - en brinnande eld a walking man - en gående man
A few monosyllabic get a slightly irregular ending. This is because the original verb was longer.
bli - blivande (The original verb was bliva and could be used today as well) ha - havande (The original verb was hava) ta - tagande (The original verb was taga)
Note that the Swedish present participle can't be used as in English I am helping you or He is eating. We use the present tense instead.