A Short Course in Swedish   

I hope that everyone who would like to know a little about the Swedish language will find something of interest in the following pages.

It is of course impossible to describe all aspects of a language in just a few pages, but I think I've covered the most important grammatical structures and pronunciation points. If you're not interested in grammar and would just like to learn a few Swedish words and phrases, try the sections Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Everyday Phrases and Word List.

If you have a sound card, loudspeakers or headphones and software for mp3-files (Windows Media Player, WinAmp etc.) you can click on the 'Play' buttons in the text to hear how words and phrases are pronounced. 

There is an on-line Swedish-English/English-Swedish dictionary with pronunciation at the following address

http://www.tyda.se

VOCABULARY

Swedish is the mothertongue of about 9 million Swedes and some 300,000 Finns residing in the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland.  

Like English, Swedish is a Germanic language. Its closest relatives are Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic. Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are mutually intelligible, although many Swedes find it difficult to understand spoken Danish. Icelandic is a slightly more distant relative. Swedes can get the gist of an Icelandic text but have a hard time understanding an Icelander speaking his native tongue.  

Since English and Swedish both derive from Proto-Germanic, the two languages have many words of  Germanic origin in common. As they also share a fairly large number of words borrowed from Latin, Greek, French and other languages, there are many Swedish words which an English-speaking person will have no trouble understanding and many others which closely resemble English words. 

Here are some Swedish words that you will understand right away:

park, radio, television, hand, finger, arm, glad 

And here are some whose meaning you can probably guess:

skola, karaktär, fräsch, miserabel, papper, lampa, sommar, vinter, lista, buss, bok, kniv, garanti 

Among the most frequently used words in a language are the so-called 'function words' (grammatical words). Here are some common function words: 

att           (to (as in 'to eat, to drink' etc), that) 
men         (but) 
och          (and)
också      (too)
inte         (not)
mycket    (much, very)
lite           (a little)
varför      (why)
därför      (because, therefore)
eftersom (since, as)
när          (when)
hur          (how)
var          (where)

PRONUNCIATION

Swedish has about the same number of consonant sounds as English, but more vowel sounds, eighteen as compared to twelve in English. With a few exceptions, the consonant sounds are fairly easy for an English-speaking person to learn but some of the vowel sounds are a bit tricky, especially the very rounded sounds ' ö ',' u', ' y' and 'å'. The intonation of Swedish is often described by English-speaking people as 'cheerful', 'melodious' etc. Swedish does not sound like the 'language' of the Swedish chef in the Muppet Show, or at least we like to think so!

Below you'll find the above text translated into Swedish. Click on the 'Play' button to hear what Swedish sounds like:

" Svenskan har ungefär samma antal konsonantljud som engelskan, men fler vokalljud, arton jämfört med engelskans tolv. Med några få undantag, är det ganska lätt för en engelsktalande person att lära sig konsonantljuden, men vissa av vokalljuden är lite besvärliga, speciellt de mycket rundade ljuden 'ö', 'u', 'y' och 'å'. Svenskans intonation beskrivs ofta av engelsktalande människor som 'glättig', 'melodiös' etc. Svenskan låter inte som det 'språk' som den svenske kocken i the Muppet Show talar, åtminstone vill vi gärna tro det!"

Swedish is a pitch-accent language, and this is what gives Swedish its characteristic singsong quality. The acute (high-toned) and grave (low-toned) pitches are not indicated in written form, they can only be learned by listening to the language or using a dictionary with pitch marks.

Words with acute pitch are ‘one-peak words’, i.e. they have the same pitch as most English words (Sw. syster (sister) and liter (liter) have acute pitch and are stressed the same way as Eng. ‘sister’ and ‘liter’).

Words with grave pitch are ’twin-peak words’. Press the button to hear the difference between the two pitch patterns:

There are also about a hundred word pairs that can only be disambiguated by listening to their pitch (acute or grave). Here are a few examples:

Vowel sounds

Generally speaking, a vowel at the end of a word, or a vowel that is followed by one consonant, is long, while a vowel followed by two consonants is short.

The following words contain all of the Swedish vowel sounds: 

Long                              Short           Similar English sounds
                                                         Long         Short

kal (barren)                  kall  (cold)       'car'           'love'

ko (cow)                       rott   (rowed)    'blue'        'book'  (more rounded in
                                                                                                                Swedish, though) 

knut (knot)                   rutt  (route)      No similar sounds in English

stå (stand)                    stått (stood)      'bore'        BrEng 'spot'

be  (pray)                     bett  (prayed)                    'bed'

hit  (here)                     hitta (find)        'beat'         'bit'

lysa (shine)                  lyssna (listen)    No similar sounds in English                 

läsa (read)                    häst   (horse)     'there'        'best'

röd  (red)                     fött     (borne)    No similar sounds in English

Consonant sounds

Retroflex sounds 

When 'r' is followed by s, t, d or n, it merges with those consonants:

The sje-sound

There are three different pronunciations of the sje-sound, a southern, a central and a northern one. I pronounce it the way we do in the north of Sweden. This is also the easiest pronunciation for an English-speaking person, as the northern sje-sound is quite similar to the first sound in English 'she'. As can be seen below, this sound can be spelled in many different ways:

 The tje-sound

The tje-sound is a bit more difficult for speakers of English to master. Like the sje-sound it is spelled in several different ways:

  
The r-sound

'R' is pronounced differently in different parts of Sweden. The most common r-sound is the trilled ' r ': 

rita  (draw)   krita (chalk)  där (there)  rulla (roll)  herre (gentleman)  darra (tremble) barr ((pine) needle)

  

• Hej, jag heter Lars. (Hi, my name is Lars). Jag är svensk  (I am Swedish). Jag bor i Umeå (I live in Umeå). Vad heter du? (What's your name?).  
  
• Jag heter ...
  
• Är du amerikan? (Are you American ?)
  
• Ja, jag är amerikan, jag bor i ...  (Yes, I'm American, I live in ....)

(The verb 'heta' (present tense form 'heter') in the dialogue above is an example of verbs which have to be translated into English using a phrase, in this case ('is/am/are called' or 'my, your etc. name is'). Other examples of such verbs are 'gapa' ('open one's mouth'), 'blunda' ('close one's eyes') and 'orka' ('have the strength to do something'). 

NOUNS

When it comes to nouns, Swedish is a bit more complicated than English. All Swedish nouns belong to one of two genders  ('neuter' or 'non-neuter'). Neuter nouns are also called 't-nouns' and non-neuter nouns 'n-nouns', after the definite endings of their singular forms:

As you can see, definiteness is marked by means of an ending, rather than a definite article ('the') as in English. Swedish does has a definite article (den or det (plural de), depending on whether the  following noun is an n-noun or a t-noun) but it is only used when a noun is qualified by a preceding word, e.g. an adjective:

(In such phrases, definiteness is marked in three different ways, namely 1) by means of the definite article, 2) a special ending on the adjective and 3) the definite ending of the noun. We Swedes like to play it safe!)

The indefinite article (a/an) in Swedish is en or ett, again depending on whether the following noun is a t-noun or an n-noun: 

Unfortunately, there are no really useful rules to help you decide what gender a noun is. When you learn a new noun, you also have to learn what gender it is.

Here are some common Swedish nouns:

Plural

Plural formation is not as straightforward as in English. With few exceptions, English nouns take the regular s-plural (boy-boys). In Swedish there are five different ways of forming the plural of nouns. Again, there are few, if any, rules. You have to learn what kind of plural a particular noun takes:

As in English, there is also a small number of nouns whose plural forms are formed - wholly or partly - through mutation, i.e. a change of the central vowel (as in goose-geese, mouse -mice, woman, women etc),:

The plural forms of nouns take the definite endings -na (groups 1, 2 and 3 above), -a (group 4) or -en (group 5): 

The Genitive (the possessive form of a noun)

Easy! Just add an 's' to the noun (if the noun ends in a sibilant (-s, -z etc.) the genitive ending is not used).

ADJECTIVES

English adjectives are inflected only in the comparative and the superlative (-er, -est)), while Swedish adjectives are also inflected for gender, number and definiteness:

Gender: En gammal bil (n-noun, a red car), ett gammalt träd (t-noun, an old tree)  

Number :  En grön bil-två gröna bilar, Ett grönt tak-två gröna tak 

Definiteness:  Den röda bilen ('the red car'), det röda taket 

When a noun in the definite form is preceded by an adjective, the definite article (den/det, plural de) is used front of the adjective. 

The comparative form of an adjective usually ends in -are and the superlative form in -ast:

As in English, mer ('more') and mest ('most') are used with long adjectives:

A few common adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms (c.f. English 'well, better, best' or 'bad, worse, worst'), e.g.  

Translate the adjective phrases below into Swedish. The following nouns and adjectives are used in the phrases:

PRONOUNS

Personal and possessive  pronouns

The possessive forms min, din, vår and er are inflected for gender and number, like adjectives. The uninflected form is used in front of n-nouns, the form ending in -t in front of t-nouns and the form ending in -a in the plural:   min bil, mitt hus, mina söner (sons).

Demonstrative pronouns

Den här / den där  is used in front of n-nouns, det här / det där in front of t-nouns. Nouns following a demonstrative pronoun take the definite form:

In spoken Swedish, dom is used instead of de (där/här):  Dom där bilarna (Those cars) and instead of the personal pronouns de / dem: Jag såg dom (I saw them). Dom såg mig (They saw me). 

VERBS

The Swedish verb system is quite similar to the English system. One notable difference, however, is that we do not have progressive verb forms ('is/am/are/was etc. driving') to express ongoing or incomplete action. Instead we can use a phrase like hålla på att ('be in the process of').

Jag målar huset / Jag håller på att måla huset   -  I am paiting my house.

Another difference is that we do not use do-periphrasis in yes-no questions ('Do you smoke?') and negative sentences ('He doesn't know').

A yes-no question is formed through inversion of the subject and the verb:

A negative sentence is formed through the insertion of inte (not), usually after the first verb:

A third difference is that Swedish verb forms are never inflected for person (c.f. English 'I drink  - he drinks'). No matter who performs the action expressed by the verb, the verb form remains the same:

The principal parts 

The principal parts are the verb forms one needs to know to be able to use a verb. The principle parts of an English verb are the base form (e.g. DRINK), the past tense form (DRANK) and the past participle form (DRUNK).

The principal parts of Swedish verbs are 

The infinitive form     The past tense form        The supine form 

hoppa                          hoppade                    hoppat                         jump                              jumped                      jumped 
springa                        sprang                      sprungit                        run                                 ran                           run

The infinitive form of a Swedish verb usually ends in -a, but there are some verbs whose infinitive forms end in other vowels, for example -o, -å or -e, e.g. sno (wind), gå (walk) and le (smile))  

The past tense form is formed either by means of an ending which is added to the stem of the verb (weak verbs), or through a variation in the base vowel of the verb (strong verbs).  

The supine form is formed by means of an ending that is added to the stem, or vowel variation + an ending. Its functions are the same as those of the English past participle form (except that it is not used in passive constructions), i.e. it is used together with har to form the present perfect (Jag har ätit - I have eaten) and with hade to form the past perfect (Jag hade ätit - I had eaten). 

                                     ******************************
There is also a fourth principal part, the past participle, which is used in one of the two possible passive constructions in Swedish (after the verb 'bli'). Past participles are also frequently used as adjectives.  They are formed by removing the ending from supine form and adding

-d (or -t depending on whether the subject is an n-noun or a t-noun) if the supine ending is -t (weak verbs): retat->retad/retat (tease or irritate), sopat ->sopad/sopat (sweep)

-en (or -et depending on whether the subject is an n-noun or a t-noun) if the supine ending is -it (strong verbs): stulit -> stulen, druckit ->drucken/drucket, sprungit->sprungen/sprunget

Golvet blev sopat   The floor was swept
Bilen blev stulen     The car was stolen

A much easier way to form a passive verb phrase is by means of the ending -s:

Infinitive           Past tense          Supine

spela                         spelade                   spelat
spelas (present tense)      spelades                  spelats

Detta spel spelas/spelades/har spelats/hade spelats/ska spelas...
This game            is played/was played /      has been played/  had been played/         will be played ...

The verb stem

If the infinitive form ends in -a, the verb stem is the infinitive form minus the -a: hopp(a) (jump) läs(a) (read).

If the infinitive form ends in some other vowel, the stem is the entire infinitive form :ro (row) le (smile). 

The two most frequently used verbs in Swedish are vara (be) and ha (have). The principal parts of those two verbs are:

vara       var           varit    (be        was/were     been)
ha          hade         haft    (have     had              had)

Weak verbs

Hoppa is a weak verb.  Swedish weak verbs are not as regular as their English counterparts, whose past tense and past participle forms are invariably formed with the endings -ed -ed (jump, jumped, jumped).  

The great majority of Swedish weak verbs form the 2nd and 3rd principal parts by means of the endings -ade  -at, which are added to the stem (see above).  Such verbs belong to the

1st conjugation:   

leta     letade    letat  (look for)  simma    simmade    simmat (swim)

Some weak verbs (of the 2nd conjugation), however, take the endings -de/-te,  -t :

böja    böjde    böjt  (bend)          köpa   köpte  köpt (buy)

and a very small group,  the 3rd conjugation, takes the endings  -dde     -tt

ro  rodde rott (row)            tro trodde trott  (believe)
    

Here are some common weak verbs:

lyssna lyssnade lyssnat   (listen, 1st conj)
titta tittade tittat            (look, 1st conj)
räkna räknade räknat     (count, 1 st conj)
prata  pratade pratat      (talk, 1 conj)
hitta hittade hittat          (find, 1st conj)
tacka tackade tackat      (thank, 1st conj)

höra   hörde  hört             (hear, 2nd conj)
läsa läste läst                   (read, 2nd conj)
bygga byggde byggt           (build, 2nd conj)
åka     åkte     åkt             (go, leave, 2nd conj)

bo bodde bott                     (live, 3rd conj)

Strong verbs

Springa is a strong verb (4th conjugation). As in most English irregular verbs, the central vowel of a strong verb changes when the verb is inflected. The supine form always ends in  -it.

Here are some common strong verbs:

äta           åt          ätit           (eat)
skriva      skrev     skrivit       (write)
dricka      drack    druckit     (drink)
slå           slog        slagit       (beat)
bli            blev        blivit        (become)
flyga        flög        flugit        (fly)
ge            gav         givit         (give)
hålla       höll        hållit        (hold)
springa    sprang   sprungit   (run)
sjunga     sjöng      sjungit      (sing)
ta            tog         tagit          (take)
vinna      vann       vunnit       (win)

Irregular verbs

A third (not very big) group of Swedish verbs are the irregular verbs.

gå          gick        gått  (walk)
se           såg         sett  (see)
le           log          lett  (smile)
tycka     tyckte    tyckt (think = to have an opinion about sth)

Verb tenses

In English, an -s is added to 3rd person singular present tense forms (He works a lot), while Swedish verb forms are never inflected for person, as can be seen in the examples below:

Jag äter (I eat/am eating), du (you, sing.) äter, han (he)  äter, hon (she) äter, vi (we) äter, ni (you, pl.) äter, de (they) äter.

Jag åt (I ate), du åt, han åt etc.

Jag har ätit (I have eaten), du har ätit, han har ätit ....etc.

Jag hade ätit (I had eaten) , du hade ätit, .... vi hade ätit etc.

Jag ska äta (I will eat), ....hon ska äta... ni ska äta etc. 

Except for the present tense, the other tenses are formed in basically the same way as in English: 

har (have/has) + the supine form = the present perfect  (Jag har hört - I have heard)
hade (had) + the supine form = the past perfect  (Jag hade hört  - I had heard)
The 2nd principal part = the past  (Jag hörde - I heard)
ska (shall/will) + the infinitive form = the future  (Jag ska äta  - I will eat)

(As in English, there are several different ways of expressing future time: The present tense (see below) is very often used with future reference: Jag åker i morgon (I'm leaving tomorrow) ). To indicate intention, we use ska + infinitive: Jag ska tala med honom (I will talk to him = I intend to have a word with him). Another very common future construction is kommer att + infinitive. It is usually used with actions over which the speaker has little or no influence: Det kommer att regna (It's going to rain). Han kommer att bli mycket arg (He's going to be very angry)).

Like the present tense forms of English 'be' (is/am/are), the present tense form of vara (be) is irregular: är. As you will remember, Swedish verbs are not inflected for person, so är covers all of the three English present tense forms:  jag är, du är, han är, vi är etc.

The present tense endings of the weak verbs are

The present tense endings of the strong and the irregular verbs are

  
Present tense endings are added to the verb stem (see above):

Since Swedish does not have progressive verb forms, the present tense form is used for both habitual actions and ongoing or incomplete actions. 

Thus, Jag spelar piano may be a reply to either of these questions:  

Spelar du något instrument? (Do you play an instrument?)  
Vad håller du på med?  (What are you doing?).  

If we want make it clear that we are talking about ongoing or incomplete action, we may use a phrase like 'hålla på att':  Jag håller på att äta ( I am eating), or a time adverbial like just nu (right now): Jag äter just nu.

Exercise

Translate the following verb phrases into Swedish (you may have to review the personal pronouns above):

Click here to see the key

Auxiliaries (modals) 

Present and past tense forms

As in English, the modal auxiliaries are followed by the bare infinitive form:

Jag ska äta (I will eat) Du vill åka (You want to go) Hon bör/borde vinna (She should win).

WORD ORDER

In a Swedish declarative sentence (i.e. a sentence which is not negated or a yes-no
question), the finite verb (i.e. the first, or the only, verb in a sentence) is always
the second sentence element (the so-called F2-rule (Finite verb always in 2nd position) ):  

Erik bor i Stockholm. (Erik lives in Stockholm). Vi åker ikväll. (We are leaving tonight)
 S        V      Adv                                                                S     V      Adv

Han har varit här. (He has been here). Ulrika hade sett filmen tidigare
         V              Adv                                            S        V                 Obj      Adv

                                                              (U. had seen the film before).

       The F2-rule results in two different types of word order in Swedish:

1. When the subject is the first element in a sentence, the word order is SUBJECT + FINITE  
    VERB (see the four sentences above).  

2. When a syntactic unit other than the subject (e.g. an adverbial or an object) is the first
    sentence element, the word order is FINITE VERB + SUBJECT (inverted word order):  

         I Stockholm bor Erik.           Ikväll åker vi.    Här har han varit.
                Adv           V   Subj                Adv      V      S      Adv   V    S

          Filmen hade Ulrika sett tidigare.
           Obj        V        S  

Thus, when the subject is not the first unit in a sentence, it is placed after the finite (the first) verb.

PREPOSITIONS

The most common prepositions in Swedish are:

ADVERBS

As in English, most manner adverbs are formed through the addition of an ending to an adjective (beautiful - beautifully, nice -nicely etc.). The Swedish adverbial ending is -t.

Hon är artig (She is polite). Hon svarade artigt (She answered politely).

NUMERALS

(1-20) en / ett, två, tre, fyra, fem, sex, sju, åtta, nio, tio, elva, tolv, tretton, fjorton, femton, sexton, sjutton, arton, nitton, tjugo.

(21-22 etc) tjugoett, tjugotvå etc.

(30-100) trettio, fyrtio, femtio, sextio, sjuttio, åttio, nittio, hundra

tusen, million, miljard (= 'billion')

In spoken Swedish, the final 'o' in 'trettio, fyrtio, femtio' etc. is usually silent.

Ordinals

(1st - 20th) första, andra, tredje, fjärde, femte, sjätte, sjunde, åttonde, nionde, tionde, elfte, tolfte, trettonde, fjortonde, femtonde, sextonde, sjuttonde, artonde, nittonde, tjugonde.

(21st, 22nd etc) tjugoförsta, tjugoandra etc.

(30th - 100th) trettionde, fyrtionde, femtionde, sextionde, sjuttionde, åttionde, nittionde, hundrade

(thousandth, millionth, billionth) tusende, millionte (I don't think we have an ordinal for 'miljard' (=billion) !)

SOME EVERYDAY PHRASES

Greetings etc.

Meeting

Formal                                                          Informal

God dag! (How do you do)             Hej ! (the most common greeting today) 

Hur står det till?  (How are you?) Hur är läget? / Hur är det? (How are you doing?)

Tack bra! (I'm fine thanks)            Det är bra. Själv då? (Fine. And you?)

God morgon!  (Good morning)

Välkommen! (Welcome!)

Leaving

Adjö! (very formal) (Good bye!)

Hej då! (Bye!)

Vi ses i morgon! (See you tomorrrow!)

Ha det så bra! (Take care!)

God natt (och sov gott)!  (Goodnight (and sleep tight)!)

Congratulating sb / wishing sb well etc.

Gratulerar! (Congratulations!) (slightly formal)

Grattis! (Congratulations!) (informal)

Grattis på födelsedagen! (Happy birthday!)

Lycka till! (Good luck!)

Krya på dig! (Get well!)

Trevlig resa! (Have a pleasant journey!)

Trevlig helg! (Have a nice weekend!)

God jul! (Merry Christmas!)

Gott nytt år! (Happy New Year!)

Glad påsk! (Happy Easter!)

Glad midsommar! (Happy Midsummer!)

Sending one's love

Hälsa din (pappa, man etc.) ! (Give my/our love to your (daddy, husband etc.), Say hallo to your (daddy, husband etc.) from me/us)
Hälsa (David, Emma etc.)! (Give my/our love to (David, Emma etc.)
Peter hälsar ! (Peter sends his love)

Greetings in letters etc.

Thanking sb

Tack! / Tack så mycket! (Thank you!)

Here are some common phrases starting with 'Thanks for..'. Use the online dictionary to see what the rest of the phrase means!

Tack för idag! Tack för igår! Tack för kaffet! Tack för maten! Tack för senast! Tack för lånet! Tack för hjälpen! Tack för skjutsen! Tack för sällskapet! Tack för att du ringde! 

Responses to thanks:

Varsågod! (You're welcome!) För all del!  Ingen orsak! (Don't mention it!)

Tack detsamma ! / Tack själv! (Thank you!)

Vill du ...? (Would you like...?)

Vill du ha kaffe? (Would you like some coffee?)

Ja, tack! (Yes please!)
Ja, gärna! (I'd love to! I'd love some!)

Nej tack! (No thanks!)
Nej tack, det är bra. (No thanks! I'm fine)

Vill du gå på bio? (Would you like to go to the movies?)
Ja, gärna! (I'd love to!)
Tyvärr, jag är upptagen i kväll. (I'm afraid I can't, I have a previous engagement)

Offering help

Vill du ha hjälp? (Would you like some help? Can I help you?)

Ja, tack! (Yes, please!)
Tack det går bra! (No thanks, I'm allright!)

Asking for help

Kan du hjälpa mig? (Could you give me a hand, please?)
Skulle du kunna hjälpa mig att (hitta honom etc.)?) ? (Would you help me (find him etc.)?)
Kan du göra mig en tjänst? (Can you do me a favor?)

Asking for sth

Kan jag få / Skulle jag kunna få (låna en penna etc.)? (May I (borrow a pen etc.), please)
Jag ska be att få... / Jag skulle vilja ha... (I'd like...)

Replies to requests

Ja visst! (Certainly!) Tyvärr, jag har inte någon/något... (I'm afraid I don't have a....)

Asking for information

Vet du var / hur.../ varför.../ vad...? (Do you know where... /how.../why.../ what...)
Var är....   (Where is...?)
Var ligger...   (Where is...? (used when one asks directions))

Tag questions

..., inte sant? ...eller hur? (..., isn't it? ...., can't you? ..., won't he? etc.) Du var inte där, eller hur? (You weren't there, were you?)

Apologizing

Ursäkta? (Beg your pardon?)

Förlåt! / Åh, förlåt mig! (Sorry! / Oh, I'm sorry! (used when you bump into sb etc.))

Ursäkta mig... (Excuse me,... (used when you want to talk to somebody, or when you have to leave the room)

Ursäkta att jag stör, men... (I'm sorry to disturb you, but....)

On the telephone

Hej, mitt namn är Lars/ Hej, jag heter Lars (Hi, my name is Lars) / Hej, det är Lars (Hi, it's Lars)
Kan jag få tala med John?  (May I speak to John?)   
Är John hemma? / Är John där? (Is John home? / Is John there?)
Ja, ett ögonblick! (Yes, one moment!)

Agreeing / Disagreeing

Ja, det tycker jag också. Ja, jag håller med. (Yes, I agree / Yes, you're right)

Nej, det tycker inte jag. Nej, jag håller inte med dig. (I don't agree)


When you don't understand, can't hear etc.



Jag förstår inte. Kan du förklara? (I don't understand. Can you explain?)

Kan du prata lite långsammare? (Could you speak a little more slowly, please?)

Kan du ta om det där? Jag hörde inte. (Say again, please. I didn't get that)

In a shop

Salesperson: Ja, tack? (Can I help you?)
Customer: En (chokladkaka), tack (I'd like a (bar of chocolates), please)
Salesperson: Är det bra så? (Anything else?)
Customer: Jag tar en (kvällstidning), också. (I'll have an (evening paper), too)
Salesperson: Någonting annat kanske? (Will there be anything else?)
Customer: Nej, tack, det är bra så. Vad blir det? (No thanks, that's all. How much is it?)
Salesperson: Trettioen kronor, tack. (Thirty-one kronor, please)

Expressing regret, sympathy etc.

Det var synd! (That's too bad!)
Vad tråkigt! (I'm sorry to hear that)

Tyvärr kan jag inte komma / Jag är ledsen men, jag kan inte komma

WORD LIST

Key: 1. Det gamla huset 2. Den gamla cykeln 3. De nya husen 4. De gamla cyklarna 5. En ny cykel 6. Ett gammalt hus 7. Nya cyklar 8. Nya hus. Back to adjectives

Key, verbs:

Jag har betalat honom. Han ska betala dig / Han kommer att betala dig / Han betalar. De hade betalat henne.

Han såg mig. Hon kommer att se den/det. Du ser.

Han tog bussen. De har tagit den/det. Back to verbs