The Swedish Language

Swedish is a small Scandinavian language spoken in northern Europe. It’s the administrative language in Sweden and some regions in Finland and belongs to the Germanic language family. This means that Swedish is related to German, Dutch, and English but also, more closely, to Danish and Norwegian. In fact these languages are more or less mutually intelligible (depending on how much exposure the listener has had to the languages) because of the common origin in Old Norse.

If you already know one of these languages, Swedish will definitely feel somewhat familiar to you.

Greetings

Now, let’s learn your first bit of Swedish! To greet someone in Swedish, you use the word [siis-keyword]hej[/siis-keyword] (hello), which sounds much like hey in English. However, this is not an informal expression but the most common neutral greeting. It’s one of the most important bits of Swedish that you could ever learn.

[siis-tbl][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]hej[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]hello[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]hej då[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]good bye[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][/siis-tbl]

Simple sentences

Swedish is considered easy to learn in that sense, that you don’t need to modify words depending on whom you are talking about. In English, for instance, you have to conjugate the verb, as it’s called in fancy linguistic lingo, depending on who performs the action.

[siis-tbl][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-th width="50%"]be[/siis-tbl-th][siis-tbl-th width="50%"]vara[/siis-tbl-th][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td](I) am[/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]är[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td](you) are[/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]är[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td](she) is[/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]är[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td](we) are[/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]är[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][/siis-tbl]

Can you spot which word är is related to?

So to start constructing sentences in Swedish you only have to have a subject: a thing that IS something. [siis-keyword]Jag[/siis-keyword] (I) and [siis-keyword]det[/siis-keyword] (it) are good words to start with. Then you move on with [siis-keyword]är[/siis-keyword] (am, are, is) and then you add something that your subject is going to be.

[siis-example]Jag är amerikan.[/siis-example]
I'm an American.

[siis-example]Jag är britt.[/siis-example]
I'm a Brit.

[siis-example]Det är bra.[/siis-example]
It's good.

[siis-tip-box]In spoken Swedish, you'll mostly hear jag being realized as /ja/ and är as /e/ or /ä/. That is, both words lose their ending consonant.[/siis-tip-box]

[siis-example-box][siis-tbl][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-th]More examples[/siis-tbl-th][siis-tbl-th][/siis-tbl-th][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td width="50%"][siis-example]Jag är svensk.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td width="50%"]I am Swedish.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är lärare.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I am a teacher.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är upptagen.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I'm busy.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är hundägare.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I'm a dog owner.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Det är tråkigt här.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]It's boring here.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är förkyld.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I've got a cold.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Det är trevligt.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]It's nice.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är finländare.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I'm Finnish.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Det är kallt.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]It's cold.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är glad.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I am glad.
I am happy.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är vegan.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I'm vegan.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Det är konstigt.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]It's strange.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Det är dåligt.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]It's bad.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är rik.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I'm rich.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Det är uppenbart.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]That's obvious.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Det är molnigt.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]It's cloudy.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är musiker.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I'm a musician.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Det är dumt.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]It's stupid.
It's a bad idea.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Det är onödigt.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]That's unnecessary.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-tr][siis-tbl-td][siis-example]Jag är klar.[/siis-example][/siis-tbl-td][siis-tbl-td]I'm ready.
I'm done.[/siis-tbl-td][/siis-tbl-tr][/siis-tbl][/siis-example-box]