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Swedish A Comprehensive Grammar 3rd edition Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar is an award-winning complete reference guide to modern Swedish grammar. This volume is organised to promote a thorough understanding of Swedish grammar, presenting the complexities of Swedish in a concise and readable form. Explanations are full, clear and free of jargon, and an extensive index, numbered paragraphs, cross-references and summary charts provide readers with easy access to the information they require. Now in its third edition, the text has been comprehensively updated to conform to new standards set in the description of language and to reflect the recommendations of the Language Council of Sweden. It offers an improved layout, completely revised index and more user-friendly paragraph structure. Continuing the tradition of previous editions, the emphasis remains fixed on Swedish in everyday communication, drawing on modern corpus material, the internet and the media to provide high frequency words and expressions. Examples have been modernised throughout and new content takes account of recent trends resulting from the increasing democratisation of written Swedish. Features include: (cid:2) detailed treatment of grammatical structures and parts of speech (cid:2) a wealth of examples from present-day Swedish (cid:2) particular attention to areas of confusion and difficulty for learners (cid:2) Swedish/English contrasts highlighted throughout the book (cid:2) chapters on word formation, orthography and punctuation. Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar is the most thorough and detailed Swedish grammar available in English and is an essential reference source for the learner and user of Swedish, irrespective of level. It is ideal for use in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types. Dr Philip Holmes is Reader Emeritus in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Hull, UK, and is now a freelance translator. Dr Ian Hinchliffe, a former lecturer in Swedish, is a freelance translator and founder member of the Swedish Association of Professional Translators. WWinner of the Swedish National Language Council’s Erik Wellander Prize, 2003 Praise for the first edition ‘This grammar has great assets. The first is that it is compiled by English- speaking people who have an excellent command of Swedish but who know at first hand where the difficulties of learning Swedish lie ... The second is that it represents contemporary Swedish and draws attention to different styles and registers ... a good reliable guide to modern Swedish and should serve as a standard reference of many years.’ Scandinavica ‘The strong points of this grammar are: (a) it concentrates on everyday informal language; (b) it gives a wealth of examples; (c) by being “unashamedly comparative” it highlights some aspects of the Swedish language that are hardly ever touched upon in Swedish grammars written by native speakers.’ Tijdschrift voor Skandinavistiek Praise for the second edition ‘A vital contribution to the presentation of Swedish to an international audience. The book adopts a valuable external perspective on Swedish, from which native speakers of Swedish can also benefit, and is a major source of knowledge for all of those either within or outside Sweden who teach Swedish as a second language or as a foreign language.’ The Swedish Language Council ‘We have in Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar an extraordinarily workable teaching and reference tool that should continue to be a source of linguistic enrichment for many years to come.’ Marilyn Johns Blackwell, Ohio State University, USA ‘This is a reference work of the first rank … Above all, however, this book constitutes the most important international work of reference for everyone with an interest in linguistics in search of detailed information about the morphology and syntax of Swedish.’ Skandinavistik PPraise for the third edition ‘A thorough, clear guide to the rules of Swedish grammar... Holmes and Hinchliffe cover everything from basics such as nouns and adjectives to more advanced topics such as interjections and prepositions, and they do it all with ease and clarity. Javisst, this is the best reference book to Swedish grammar you’ll find in English.’ B.J. Epstein, University of East Anglia, UK Routledge Comprehensive Grammars Comprehensive Grammars are available for the following languages: Bengali Cantonese Catalan Chinese Danish Dutch Greek Indonesian Japanese Modern Welsh Modern Written Arabic Polish Slovene Swedish Turkish Ukrainian Swedish A Comprehensive Grammar 3rd edition Philip Holmes and Ian Hinchliffe This third edition published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2013 Philip Holmes and Ian Hinchliffe The right of Philip Holmes and Ian Hinchliffe to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Routledge 1994 Second edition published by Routledge 2003 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Holmes, Philip, 1944- Swedish : a comprehensive grammar / Philip Holmes and Ian Hinchliffe.– 3rd edition. pages cm. – (Routledge Comprehensive Grammars) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Swedish language – Grammar. I. Hinchliffe, Ian. II. Title. PD5112.H66 2013 439.782/421– dc23 2012045423 ISBN: 978-0-415-66924-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-66925-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-38167-0 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon and Gill Sans by Philip Holmes Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall CConotnentetsn ts Preface xi Symbols and abbreviations used in the text xv Chapter 1 Nouns 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Gender rules 3 1.3 Miscellaneous points of gender 8 1.4 Plural noun forms – the declensions 16 1.5 Miscellaneous points on indefinite plural forms 38 1.6 Special uses of the singular and plural 44 1.7 Noun homonyms 48 1.8 The genitive 50 1.9 The form of the indefinite article 56 1.10 The form of the definite (end) article 56 1.11 The use of the indefinite and definite (end) article 65 Chapter 2 Adjectives 77 2.1 Form and order 77 2.2 The indefinite declension 92 2.3 The definite declension 102 2.4 Adjectival nouns 114 2.5 Comparison of adjectives 121 Chapter 3 Pronouns 140 3.1 Personal pronouns 140 3.2 Function and reference of personal pronouns 142 3.3 Subject and object pronouns 143 vii 3.4 Reflexive pronouns 156 3.5 Emphatic pronouns 159 3.6 Possessive adjectives and pronouns 161 3.7 Demonstrative pronouns 174 3.8 Determinative pronouns 179 3.9 Indefinite pronouns 182 3.10 Interrogative pronouns 223 3.11 Relative pronouns 227 Chapter 4 Numerals 233 4.1 Forms of numerals 233 4.2 The use of cardinal numbers 240 4.3 The use of ordinal numbers 246 4.4 Fractions 249 4.5 Dates 251 4.6 Telling the time 254 Chapter 5 Verbs 257 5.1 Form 257 5.2 The use of the tenses 280 5.3 Ways of expressing mood 304 5.4 Transitive, intransitive and reflexive verbs 314 5.5 −s forms of the verb and the passive 320 5.6 Compound verbs 332 5.7 Some problem verbs 339 Chapter 6 Adverbs 345 6.1 Form 345 6.2 Meaning and function 355 6.3 Location and movement 364 6.4 Translating adverbs 367 Chapter 7 Prepositions 376 7.1 Introduction 376 7.2 The fifteen most common Swedish prepositions 383 7.3 Prepositional usage 428 viii Chapter 8 Conjunctions 479 8.1 Coordination and subordination 479 8.2 Coordinating conjunctions 483 8.3 Subordinating conjunctions 489 8.4 Other subordinators 499 8.5 Some problem conjunctions 501 Chapter 9 Interjections 508 9.1 Introduction 508 9.2 Affirmations and denials 509 9.3 Reactions in conversation 511 9.4 Commands 514 9.5 Imitations 515 9.6 Polite expressions 516 9.7 Expletives 517 Chapter 10 Sentence structure and word order 518 10.1 Clause elements 518 10.2 Phrases 531 10.3 Main clause word order – basic positions 547 10.4 Subordinate clause word order – basic positions 554 10.5 Order within positions 555 10.6 Main clause transformations 561 10.7 Subordinate clauses 580 10.8 Emphasis 594 10.9 Ellipsis 601 Chapter 11 Word formation 608 11.1 Introduction 608 11.2 Affixation 612 11.3 Compounding 626 11.4 Expressive formation 644 11.5 Abbreviation 646 11.6 Foreign influences on Swedish 647 11.7 Conversion 658 ix