Introduction to Swedish language

Why learn Swedish?

There are many reasons why students take Swedish at the University.

Why study Swedish?

1) Swedish is relatively easy for English speakers to learn because:

a) There are lots of cognates: hus = house, katt = cat, hund = hound
b) Verbs are not conjugated! For example: I go = Jag går We go = Vi går You go = Du går You go = Ni går He goes = Han går They go = De går

2) You will gain a mastery of all the basic grammar in less than one year!

3) Learn Swedish and you will be able to read both Danish and Norwegian too!

4) It is a beautifully musical language.

5) When you travel to Sweden the Swedes will be amazed!

Swedish and its relatives

Swedish is a member of the Indo-European family, to which almost all European languages belong (with the exception of the Finnish-Ugrian, Basque, and Caucasian languages), and has many features in common with all of these. Its closest relatives are Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.

The latter has due to its isolation remained remarkably intact from the Viking Age and therefore is very difficult to understand for other Nordic speakers.

Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes usually do not have any difficulties in communicating with each other. Even though Danish is slightly more closely related to Swedish than Norwegian, its "hot-potato-in-the-mouth" pronunciation is the main obstacle when Danes and Swedes speak with each other, whereas Norwegian in that respect is very similar to Swedish.

All in all, the differences between the languages are not very big - most Swedes would probably even find it difficult to tell whether a text was written in Norwegian or Danish.

Since Swedish also is the second official language of Finland, a basic knowledge of Swedish will thus enable you to understand and make yourself understood in several countries.

How can this course help me?

Swedish is spoken by approximately 9 million people in Sweden and some 300 000 in Finland. Written Swedish is quite similar to German and Dutch; Norwegians and Swedes understand each other perfectly.

Introduction to Swedish. Table of contents

A brief presentation How to introduce yourself Greetings and goodbyes Things in general and particular Even more things What is yours like? To compare and to be compared.

Swedish - English dictionary