Swedish Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Swedish grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Swedish and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Swedish and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Swedish.

Prepositions - Swedish
and och
above ovanför
under under
before före, innan
after efter
in front of framför
behind bakom
far from långt från
near nära
in i
inside inuti
outside utanför
with med
without utan
about om
between mellan
but men
for för
from från
to till

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Swedish
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] jag äter utan kniv
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] hon bor nära kyrkan
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] han är längre än henne
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] han kom med sin lilla hund
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] kan du följa med mig?

Negation in Swedish

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Swedish
I understand you [affirmative form] jag förstår dig
I don't understand you [negation + verb] jag förstår inte dig
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] detta är inte det rätta ordet
don't leave me [imperative negation] lämna mig inte
no problem [negation + noun] inga problem

Negative Sentences - Swedish
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] jag talar inte franska
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] hon besökte inte tyskland
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] han kan inte se oss
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] kan hon inte spela schack?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] vi kommer inte försent

Questions in Swedish

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Swedish
how? hur?
what? vad?
who? vem?
why? varför?
where? var?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Swedish
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] var bor du?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] talar hon kinesiska?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] hur mycket är detta?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] kan jag hjälpa dig?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] vad heter du?

Adverbs in Swedish

It's time to learn the adverbs in Swedish. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Swedish
now nu
yesterday i går
today i dag
tonight i kväll
tomorrow i morgon
soon snart
quickly snabbt
slowly långsamt
together tillsammans
very mycket
almost nästan
always alltid
usually vanligen
sometimes ibland
rarely sällan
never aldrig

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Swedish
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] förstår du mig nu?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] jag behöver hjälp omedelbart
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] hon är mycket intelligent
I will always love you [verb + adverb] jag kommer alltid älska dig
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] kan vi inte studera tyska tillsammans?

Pronouns in Swedish

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Swedish. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Swedish
I jag
you du
he han
she hon
we vi
they de/dem

Object Pronouns - Swedish
me mig
you dig
him honom
her henne
us oss
them de/dem

Possessive Pronouns - Swedish
my min
your din
his hans
her hennes
our vår
their deras

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Swedish
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] jag är din vän
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] du pratar mycket snabbt
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] han har tre hundar
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] hon kan tala tyska
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] vi kommer inte att komma sent
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] de köpte mjölk och bröd

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Swedish
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] vad heter du?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] jag ska ge dig pengar
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] hon skrev ett brev till honom
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] de besökte henne i går
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] kan hon hjälpa oss?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] han gav dem mat

Possessive Pronouns - Swedish
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] mitt namn är maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] din bror bor här
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] hennes mor lagar mat till oss
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] hans hobby är att läsa böcker
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] vår dröm är att besöka paris
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] deras hus ligger inte långt bort

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Swedish
this is my house detta är mitt hus
that restaurant is far den restaurangen ligger långt bort
these apples are delicious dessa äpplen är läckra
those stars are shiny de stjärnorna är blanka

I hope you learned a lot about the Swedish grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!