Category: Intro course

Introduction to Swedish lessons

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Nouns / Substantiv

NOUN / SUBSTANTIV

Nouns are words that identify person, things or phenomenons. All Swedish nouns have an article: en or ett. When we have article “en” and “ett”, I will try to explain in this article.
Nouns can be in singular or plural form.
For example:
Singular    en (1) person, ett (1) bord.
Plural        två personer – two people
                    många barn – many children (många -we can count)
                    mycket jobb – a lot of work (mycket -we cannot count)
                   flera böcker – several books

Substantive can also be in “obestämd” eller “bestämd” form.
For example:
Obestämd form (Article is in front of the nouns): en bil – a car
Bestämd form (Article is in the end nouns): bilen – the car

Obestämd (kort) form we usually use:

  1. When we talking about a thing or person for the first time.
    For example: Det är en lampa. / Det är en banan. / Det är ett hus.
  2. When we talk about an not specific, but any thing.
    For example: Jag vill köpa en klänning idag. – I want to buy a dress today.
  3. We usually use nouns in short form, but without article when we talk about it:
    • nationality, language: Han talar svenska. 
    • abstract nouns (music, love) or nouns we cannot count (water, information): Jag behöver hjälp. Han gillar att lyssna på musik. Hon dricker kaffe med mjölk och socker.
    • after possessive pronoun or genitive: Det är min bil. Det är Annas cykel.
    • food and drink: Maria äter banan och dricker juice.
    • clothing, equipment: Hon har klänning och jacka på sig i dag.
    • weather: Det är fint väder idag.

Bestämd (lång) form  we usually use:

  1. After prepositions (in 75%): Hon går till jobbet.
  2. Everyone understands or knows: solen, månen.
  3. You’re talking about something you spoke earlier: Det är en lampa. Lampan är modern.

To continue reading about exceptions, groups of nouns, etc. please Click to open Grammar table with more information.

Watch the following video (in Swedish) with another examples:

https://youtu.be/EkUnb4rDyiA

Source of video: youtube.com, published by Ylva Herou.

Check you knowledge and practice with this online game:  https://www.digitalasparet.se/gram/zovn/redhood.htm

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How to read in Swedish

Lesson 2: How to read in Swedish / Hur man läser
Swedish alphabet :

Aa       Bb       Cc       Dd       Ee        Ff         Gg       Hh      Ii          Jj         Kk
a:         be:       se:       de:       e:         ɛf:        ge:       ho:       i:          ji:         ko: 

Ll         Mm      Nn       Oo       Pp       Qq       Rr        Ss        Tt       Uu       Vv  
ɛl          ɛm        ɛn        ω:         pe:       ku:       ær        ɛs         te:       u:         ve:  

Ww                Xx         Yy         Zz        Åå       Ää       Öö
dub:ǝltve:    ɛks        y:         sɛ:ta      o:         æ:         ø:

In the following video you can listen how different people pronounce the Swedish letters.

Source: youtube.com, video by SVENSKA FÖR ALLA 

1. Vowels

There are two types of vowels in Swedish. These are hard vowels (a, o, u, å) and soft vowels (e, i, y, ä, ö). Hard vowels do not affect the reading of consonant sounds. Soft vowels make the consonant into a completely different sound.

CONSONANT

 Hard (rear) vowels 
a, o, u, å

Soft (front) vowels
e, i, y, ä, ö
SK… [ sk ]

ska, skola,  skura, skåp, Skåne, skulle,
fiska, skada

 [ ch ]

sked, skidor, skynda, skära, skönt, sky

OBS! människa
G… [ g ]

gammal, golvet, gul, gå, godis

OBS! gem, get

[ j ]

ge, gissa, gymnasium, gärna, göra, gift, gillar
K…

[ k ]

katt, ko, kultur, kål

OBS! kö, kille, kör (chorus)

[ sh ]

kedja, kilo, kyrka, kärlek, köra bil
C…

[ k ]

cancer, cobra,
cup…

[ s ]

cement, cäsar,
citron, cykla…
2. Always read TJ, RS, SCH as [ sh ].
TJ tjugo, tjej, tjata, tjena…
RS [ sh ] i morse, mars, försent, Vänersborg…
SCH duscha, affisch, bransch…
3. Always read SKJ, STJ, CH as [ ch ].
SKJ skjorta, skjul, skjuta…
STJ [ ch  ] stjärna, stjäla, stjälk…
CH chans, charm, champagne…
4. Always read DJ, LJ, HJ, GJ as [ j ].

For example: djur, ljus, hjul, gjorde, djup…

5. Always read …tion/sion as [ hu:n ].

There are about 5,000 words in all European languages (including Swedish) that have the same meaning. They all end with …tion/sion. /
For example: tradition, nation, station, expansion, expression…

To listen the pronunciation, you can always type the Swedish word in Google Translate and click the sound button. Or read the transcription and listen to the word on the site https://svenska.se/

Click here to open How to Read grammar table in PDF format.

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Partikelverben (Phrasal verb)

PartikelverbEN (Phrasal verb)

In Swedish, some of the verbs are used with particles. Similar way as phrasal verbs in English.

Particles are short words that usually have their own meaning. But in combination with some verbs, the particles and verbs get a completely different meaning that can not be guessed. 

Here we review some commonly used verbs with particles. Click here to open Partikelverben (Phrasal verbs) grammar table in PDF format.

If you want more information  and more example go to this link:
https://sv.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kategori:Svenska/Partikelverb

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Interrogative – Frågeord

Interrogative (Frågeord) table
The order of words in the sentence is very important in Swedish. Let’s get acquainted with interrogative words and interrogative sentences. For asking a question you need to place the VERB before the SUBJECT. So the order of words in the sentence will be following:
<Interrogative (question word)>  <verb>  <subject>  _________________?
Exception: a question with WHO does not have a subject.
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22 verbs

Once you’ve got familiar with the verbs grammar table, you need to learn how to use this table in a right way. You need to use it for 5 minutes every day for 14 days. When studying foreign languages, the main thing is to learn to speak automatically, without thinking about grammar. Do you think about grammar when speaking your native language?

In order to understand 75% of the conversation in another language, you need to learn 50-60 most popular verbs (see Topp 1000 Svenska ord).

Here are we are publishing 22 of them – click to open it in PDF file format. Many verbs are given in pairs (antonyms). So it’s easier to remember.
Good luck! Continue reading “22 verbs”

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