I’m learning Swedish. Keeping track of what words I know is kinda handy, as well as the little ways I’ve used to remember how to spell them.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of stuff I’ve learned, some of them are easy enough to keep in memory, these are just the ones I have occassional trouble remembering, or remembering how to spell them.
This is mostly here for my own reference, so if you found this page, good sleuthing I guess?
ä, ë, ö, å
These are considered their own letters in Swedish, not a/e/o with diacritics added.
- ä = pronounced like ‘air’
- ë = pronounced like ‘ear’
- ö = pronounced like ‘urr’
- å = pronounced like ‘oh’
‘en’ vs. ‘ett’
‘en’ is used for common gender nouns. ‘ett’ is used for neutral gender nouns. There is no hard or fast rule for what noun uses which gender—you just need to memorise them.
This is necessary for definite articles, where the gender affects the suffix of the word.
e.g. en hund (a dog) → hunden (the dog)
e.g. ett bi (a bee) → biet (the bee)
It is also used for adjective agreement.
e.g. en bil (a car) -> en stor bil (a big car)
e.g. ett hus (a house) -> ett stort hus (a big house)
And both together: e.g. stort huset (the big house)
Too many men
Lots of words are variations on man/men so I wanted to pull them out for ease of reference.
| man, husband |
man |
| men, husbands |
män |
| the man |
mannen |
| but |
men |
Common phrases
| welcome |
välkommen |
Welcome VALerie |
| sorry |
förlåt |
pronounced like ‘forlorn’ |
| excuse me |
ursäkta |
U R sakta |
| please, thank you |
tack |
|
| thank you so much |
tack så mycket |
|
| you’re welcome |
tack tack |
essentially ‘thank you for thanking me’ |
| [statement], right? |
[statement], eller hur? |
lit. ‘or what?’ |
| cool! |
häftigt! |
|
| help |
hjälp |
|
| on the way |
på vag |
lit. ‘on move’ |
| what is your name? |
vad heter du? |
lit. ‘what name you?’ |
Questions
Questions are formed by moving the verb to the start of the sentence.
e.g. du förstår svenska (you understand Swedish) -> förstår du svenska? (lit. understand you swedish?)
e.g. du bor i centrum (you live in downtown) -> bor du i centrum? (lit. live you in downtown?)
Connecting words
| very |
väldigt |
val digs it |
| maybe |
kanske |
‘can she?’ maybe |
| but |
men |
|
| as, so |
så |
|
| with |
med |
|
| to, on |
på |
|
| from |
från |
|
Pronouns
| I |
jag |
|
| you |
du, ni |
|
| we |
vi |
|
| he |
han |
|
| she |
hon |
|
| they |
de |
|
| it |
det, den |
|
Posessive pronouns
| my |
min |
mitt |
mina |
|
| your |
din |
ditt |
dina |
(singular subject) |
| your |
er |
ert |
era |
(plural subjects) |
| our |
vår |
vårt |
våra |
|
| his |
hans |
— |
— |
|
| her |
hennes |
— |
— |
|
| their (singular) |
hens |
— |
— |
|
| their (plural) |
deras |
— |
— |
|
| its |
dess |
— |
— |
|
Verbs
| eat |
äter |
|
| drink |
dricker |
|
| let |
låt |
|
| like |
tycker om |
lit. ‘think about’ |
| love |
älskar |
I love Alaska-r |
| work |
arbetar |
ar beta r |
| need |
behöver |
like ‘behoove’ |
| have [to] |
får |
|
| look |
kolla |
holla at that thing |
| watch |
tittar på |
lit. ‘looking on’ |
| follow |
följa |
Följa Boy tellem |
| speak |
talar |
Tellarites speak |
| laugh |
skratta |
|
| see |
ser |
|
| buy |
köp |
|
| own |
äger |
|
| make, do |
göra |
|
| thinking, intending |
tänker |
think tank-er |
| inviting, treating |
bjuda |
|
| plays |
spelar |
playing a spelling game |
| studies |
pluggar |
plugs away at |
| cleans |
städar |
|
| wakes up |
vaknar |
like ‘wake now’ |
| shower |
duschar |
like ‘does shower’ |
| bakes |
bakar |
|
| reads |
läser |
laser scanning a book? |
| paints |
målar |
|
| works out, exercises |
tränar |
like ‘trainer’ |
| dances |
dansar |
Ted Dansen dances, Ted Dansar |
| campsing |
tältar |
like ‘tent-er’ |
| sailsing |
seglar |
like ‘sailor’ |
| swimming |
simmar |
Sims shouldn’t go swimming |
Adjectives
| good |
bra |
what’s good, brah? |
| new |
ny, nytt |
|
| easy |
lätt |
latte’s are easy |
| small |
liten |
little kitten :3 |
| sweet, cute |
söt |
|
| scary |
skrämmande |
scary things make you ‘scram, man’ |
| big |
stor |
a big store |
| tall |
lång |
like ‘long’ |
| far [away] |
långt |
like ‘long’ |
| fat |
fet, tjock |
|
| hungry |
hungrig |
|
| scary |
skrämmande |
scary things make you want to ‘scram and…’ |
| quiet |
tyst |
quietly ‘tyst tyst’ |
| cheap |
billig |
|
| expensive |
dyr |
‘dear’ |
| old |
gammal |
gammons are old |
| young |
ung |
|
Adverbs
| happy |
lyckligt |
‘lick light’ |
| early |
tidigt |
|
| always [verb] |
[verb] alltid |
‘all time’? |
| often [verb] |
[verb] ofta |
often |
| sometimes [verb] |
[verb] ibland |
Apple sometimes releases a bland thing, the iBland |
| never [verb] |
[verb] aldrig |
|
Nouns
People
| name |
heter |
hater name |
| friend |
vän |
a van full of friends |
| woman, the woman |
kvinna, kvinnan |
|
| women |
kvinnor |
|
| man, the man |
man, mannen |
|
| men |
män |
|
| girl, the girl |
flicka, flickan |
|
| girls |
flickor |
|
| boy, the boy |
pojke, pojken |
|
| boys |
pojke |
|
| child, the child |
barn, barnet |
|
| ghost |
ande |
and e ghost |
Places
| here |
här |
|
| there |
där |
|
| nearby |
närheten |
‘near heart en’ |
| on the right |
till höger |
lit. ‘to right’ |
| on the left |
till vänster |
lit. ‘to left’ |
| over there |
där borta |
lit. ‘there away’ |
| home |
hemma |
|
| apartment |
lägenhet |
lager hut? |
| the centre, downtown |
centrum |
|
| bus stop |
busshållplats |
‘bus hall plat(form)s’ |
| airport |
flygplats |
‘fly g plat(form)s’ |
| bakery |
bageri |
|
| market |
marknad |
|
| business |
affär |
business affairs |
| grocery store |
mataffär |
‘mat affair’ lit. ‘food business’ |
| university |
universitet |
|
| church |
kyrka |
|
| castle |
borg |
|
| -ö |
island |
|
| -å |
river |
|
| Gothenberg |
Göteborg |
🐐🤖 |
| Sweden, Swedish |
Sverige, Svenska |
pronounced like ‘so very uh’ |
| Great Britain, British |
Storbritannien, Brittisk |
Big Britannia |
| Norway, Norwegian |
Norge, Norska |
|
Food & drink
| salad |
sallad |
two Ls |
| Danish pastry |
wienerbröd |
lit. ‘Vienna bread’ |
| sandwich |
smörgås |
|
Objects
| desk |
skrivbord |
scribe board, with a K |
| refrigerator |
kylskåp |
Kyle’s cap |
| bed |
säng |
sang to sleep |
| bag |
väska |
you gotta vask for a bag |
| money |
pengar |
|
| ticket |
biljett |
need a ticket to get on a jett |
| book |
bok |
|
| letter |
brev |
|
| newspaper |
tidning |
|
Jobs
| web developer |
webbutvecklare |
web but veck lare |
| engineer |
ingenjör |
in gen jor |
| doctor |
läkare |
doctors are care |
| teacher |
lärare |
teachers are rare |
| actor |
skådespelare |
ska despel are - actors despel? |
| farmer |
bonde |
James Bond retires to become a farmer |
| boss |
chef |
Yes chef |
Activities
| football |
fotboll |
one O, two Ls |
| chess |
schack |
school hack |
| holiday |
semester |
|
| travel |
resa |
|
| business trip |
affärsresa |
A fars resa |
Animals
| animal |
djur |
deer is animal |
| pet, the pet |
husdjur, husdjuret |
lit. ‘house animal’ |
| bat, the bat |
fladdermus, fladdermusen |
like ‘flapper mouse’ |
| bear, the bear |
björn, björnen |
|
| bee, the bee |
bi, biet |
ends in ‘et’ because it’s ett bi |
| (roe) deer, the deer |
rådjur, rådjuren |
ro-djur |
| dragon, the dragon |
drake, draken |
|
| elephant, the elephant |
elefant, elefanten |
ele fan ten |
| hippo, the hippo |
flodhäst, flodhästen |
like ‘flood hast’ |
| lion, the lion |
lejon, lejonen |
spelled like ‘legion’, said like ‘leon’ |
| penguin, the penguin |
pingvin, pingvinen |
|
| reindeer, the reindeer |
ren, renen |
ren deer |
| sheep, the sheep |
får, fåren |
the sheep are far away |
| squirrel, the squirrel |
ekorr, ekorren |
squirrels like acorns (‘ekorren’) |
Times
| night |
natt |
|
| morning |
morgon |
|
| tomorrow |
i morgon |
lit. ‘in morning’ |