Univerb. Swedish course. Minor Grammar

13 Pages·0.113 MB·Swedish-English

MINOR GRAMMAR AND
STUDY GUIDE
ENGLISH
SWEDISH
English
Swedish
Minor Grammar
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Univerb’s language courses make it easy to take up a new
language or refresh previous knowledge of a language.
Univerb’s language courses work on pronunciation
and build up vocabulary.
This course consists of 400 phrases and expressions
in both Swedish and English and a mini grammar booklet.
In order to make to course both interesting and useful
we have put emphasis on the most useful words and phrases
e.g. on holiday.
With emphasis on spoken language
the recorded material plays a major part.
Listen to the recordings as often as possible.
Listen to the phrase and repeat slowly the fi rst time
and then at normal speed.
The best way to learn is to study little and often.
This introduction to Swedish
enables you to get by with everyday basic conversation.
© Univerb Förlag AB, Sweden, 2008-09
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Contents About Swedish
Contents ...............................................................................6 Swedish is the most widely spoken of the Scandinavian lan-
About Swedish .....................................................................7 guages, which constitute a branch of the Germanic languages,
in turn a part of the Indo-European family. There are approxi-
Noun ....................................................................................8
mately 10 million speakers of Swedish. In addition to the
Genders ..........................................................................8
people of Sweden, about 300,000 speakers live in Finland.
The defi nite form of a noun .............................................8
Swedish is closely related to Norwegian and Danish. His-
Formation of the plural..................................................10 torically it is closer to Danish, but the years of Swedish he-
The genitive case ..........................................................12 gemony over Norway (1814-1905) brought the two languages
closer together. A Swedish person today has more diffi culty
Compound nouns .........................................................13
understanding Danish than Norwegian. The Swedish alphabet
Adjectives ..........................................................................14
consists of twenty-nine letters, the regular twenty-six of the
Some irregular adjectives ..............................................15
English alphabet, plus å, ä, and ö at the end. The ä and ö dis-
Verbs ..................................................................................16 tinguish it from Norwegian and Danish, which use æ and ø.
The auxiliary verbs ha (have) and vara (be) ....................17 During the Middle Ages Swedish borrowed many words from
German, while the 18th century witnessed a large infusion of
Pronouns ............................................................................18
words from the French. In the 19th and 20th centuries English
Personal pronouns ........................................................18
has become by far the largest source of foreign borrowings.
Possessive pronouns ......................................................18 The English word smorgasbord is of Swedish origin. It is a
Demonstrative pronouns ...............................................19 combination of smörgås (sandwich) and bord (table).
Some prepositions ..............................................................20
Spelling and pronunciation ................................................22
Word melody .....................................................................23
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The masculine gender The feminine gender
Noun
the priest – prästen the lady – damen
the boy – pojken the girl – fl ickan
Genders
the brother – brodern the mother – modern
The masculine gender, the feminine gender, the common
gender and the neuter gender.
Masculine and feminine are mostly the nouns, representing The common gender The neuter gender
persons or domestic animals. The neuter gender it, is divided the chair – stolen the table – bordet
into two Swedish genders: the common gender and the neuter
the motor – motorn the eye – ögat
gender. In learning Swedish denominations of things you had
the fork – gaffeln the ear – örat
better learn, at the same time, the defi nite forms of the nouns,
as there are no rules for the relations regarding the common
and the neuter genders. If you want to point out the defi nite form of a noun more
distinctly, you put the word den before a masculine, feminine
and common noun, which you use in its defi nite form:
The defi nite form of a noun
the boy – pojken den pojken
In the Swedish language, the nouns are not preceded by a
defi nite article as in English (the). Instead of a defi nite article, the girl – fl ickan den fl ickan
the endings -en respectively -et are added to the noun in the the chair – stolen den stolen
singular.
If the noun ends in a vowel, or exceptionally in the consonant
Before a neuter noun you put the word det in order to point
-r or -l, the ending –n is added to the singular form of a noun
it out more distinctly, and in the plural form you put the word
in the masculine, feminine and common genders. In the neu-
de before the noun – in both cases you use the noun in its
ter, the ending -t is added to nouns, ending in a vowel:
defi nite form:
the train – tåget det tåget
the beds – sängarna de sängarna
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The indefi nite article en (a and an) before masculine, feminine In some nouns, ending in an e, the e is to be expunged and
and common nouns, and ett before a noun in the neuter: the ending -ar is added:
The masculine gender The feminine gender sledge – kälke many sledges – många kälkar
a man – en man a lady – en dam boy – pojke many boys – många pojkar
a boy – en pojke a girl – en fl icka
Some nouns keep an unchanged plural form:
The common gender The neuter gender a child – ett barn many children – många barn
a wall – vägg a tree – ett träd a painter – en målare many painters – många målare
a stone – en sten a roof – ett tak
To the indefi nite form of a noun in the plural, the extra ending
Formation of the plural -na is added in order to express the defi nite plural form.
If the noun ends in a consonant, the endings -ar, -er, respec- In the singular an the plural forms are indentical in one-sylla-
tively -or are added to the singular form. If a noun ends in the bled nouns, the ending -en is added:
vowel a, the a is to be expunged and –or is added. cars – bilar the cars – bilarna
If a noun in the common gender and in the neuter ends in the schools – skolor the schools – skolorna
vowel e, the endings -n, respectively -r are often added in the colours – färger the colours – färgerna
neuter and -n in the common gender:
animals – djur the animals – djuren
a horse – en häst many horses – många hästar
a picture – en tavla many pictures – många tavlor
Irregular plural formation
a tomato – en tomat many tomatoes – många tomater
man – man men – män
a rose – en ros many roses – många rosor
tooth – tand teeth – tänder
a promise – ett löfte many promises – många löften
a prison – ett fängelse many prisons – många fängelser
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foot – fot feet – fötter Compound nouns
mouse – mus mice – möss Swedish has many compound nouns. They are generally writ-
goose – gås geese – gäss ten as one word. A compound noun always takes gender of its
last element:
louse – lus lice – loss
ett huvud + en stad — en huvudstad
The genitive case
The genitive, or possessive, case of Swedish nouns is formed
by the addition of s. The s can be added to any form, defi nite
or indefi nite, singular or plural, of the noun.
the girl’s doll fl ickans docka
the dog’s tail hundens svans
the girls’ dolls fl ickornas dockor
the dogs’ tails hundarnas svansar
In English you use the preposition of in order to form the geni-
tive of concrete and abstract things, e.g.
the roof of the house taket på huset or husets tak
the colour of the grass färgen på gräset or gräsets färg
the inhabitants invånarna i staden or
of the town stadens invånare
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The adjective is in most cases conjugated by the endings -are
Adjectives
(in the comperative) and -ast (in the superlative):
kind, kinder, kindest vänlig, vänligare, vänligast
Swedish adjectives, like Swedish nouns, have indefi nite and
happy, happier, happiest lycklig, lyckligare, lyckligast
defi nite forms. They also agree in gender and number with the
nouns they qualify.
The adjective is placed before a noun. In the indefi nite singu- Adjectives, ending in -ande and -ende, and adjectives of many
lar form the adjective is uninfl ected in all genders except in syllables, are conjugated by mera (more) and mest (most):
the neuter, where the adjective ends in -t: An exciting fi lm. En spännande fi lm.
a strong boy – en stark pojke The fi lm was more Filmen var mera spännande
an old house – ett gammalt hus exciting than the book. än boken.
It was the most exciting Det var den mest spännande
fi lm I’ve seen. fi lm jag har sett.
In its defi nite form singular, an e is added in the masculine
gender, and an a in the other genders and in the plural:
Maxculine gender Some irregular adjectives
the strong man den starke mannen bra (good) – bättre, bäst
the strong men de starka männen
dålig (bad) – sämre, sämst
Feminine gender
mycket (much) – mindre, minst
the wise girl den kloka fl ickan
liten (little) – mindre, minst
the wise girls de kloka fl ickorna
stor (great) – större, störst
Common gender
the straight road den raka vägen
the straight roads de raka vägarna
Neuter gender
the nice room det trevliga rummet
the nice rooms de trevliga rummen
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But this is no rule, as there are many other infl ections:
Verbs
leka (play) – lekte, lekt
fi nna (fi nd) – fann, funnit
Regular Swedish verbs fall into 4 groups, called conju ga tions.
There are also a number of irregular verbs which do not fol- säga (say) – sade, sagt
low any particular pattern. höra (hear) – hörde, hört
The Swedish verb mostly end in a vowel. There are excep- möta (meet) – mötte. Mött
tions, e.g.
komma (come) – kom, kommit
hoppas – hope, minnas – remember
The auxiliary verbs ha (have) and vara (be)
The most common ending of a Swedish verb is a:
In English, the auxiliary verb do is used in sentences consist-
komma (come), dansa (dance), skratta (laugh), tänka (think), ing of a direct question, or in sentences, where the word not
springa (run), sova (sleep), vakna (awake), tvätta (wash), is included. In Swedish there is no auxiliary verb in such
smaka (taste), resa (travel). sentences:
Do you go to school? – Går du i skolan?
The Swedish verbs also end in other vowels e.g. o, å, e, y: No, I don’t go to school. – Nej, jag går inte i skolan.
stå (stand), få (get), le (smile), be (ask), tro (belive), bo (live),
fl y (fl ee), sy (sew).
In English you say: I, you, we, they have but he, she, it has. In
Swedish there is no difference in the infl ection. The verb have
The sign of the infi nitive – to, in Swedish – att. To be – att is translated har in the present form, irrespective of person
vara. The verbs ending in an a in the infi nitive form, often end and had (hade) in the past form. Have/has had – har haft.
in -de in the past and in -t in the perfect. The same is the case with the verb be (vara) – är in the present
kasta (throw) – kastade, kastat and var in the past.
hoppa (jump) – hoppade, hoppat
sopa (sweep) – sopade, sopat
kämpa (fi ght) – kämpade, kämpat
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Separated from a noun:
Pronouns
mine min, mitt, mina
Yours/yours din, ditt, dina
Personal pronouns
his hans
I jag me mig
hers hennes
You/you du You/you dig
ours vår, vårt, våra
he han him honom
Yours/yours er, ert, era
she hon her henne
theirs deras
it den,det it den, det
we vi us oss
Demonstrative pronouns
You/you ni You/you er
this denna – den här, detta – det här
they de them dem
that den där, det där
these dessa, de här
Possessive pronouns
those de där
In combination with a noun:
my min, mitt, mina
Your/your din, ditt, dina
his hans, sin, sitt, sina
her hennes, sin, sitt, sina
our vår, vårt, våra
Your/your er, ert, era
their deras, sin, sitt, sina
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