Swedish Gender: En or Ett?
Swedish Lesson
Video transcript
Hey there and welcome to Ablas! In today’s video, we’re going to be covering Swedish gender, and what the difference is between en and ett. Be sure to download the PDF of today’s lesson from the link in the description!
Swedish gender basics
So let’s start by covering the basics of Swedish gender.
Every Swedish noun belongs in one of two groups: common gender (also called en words) and neuter gender (otherwise called ett words). Unfortunately, there isn’t one rule to say which gender a word is, so the best thing to do is to remember the gender when you learn a new word.
Let’s look at some examples. When we want to say “a cat”, we say: en katt. This is because katt is an en word. What about “a house”? ett hus. Because hus uses the neuter gender, we use ett.
But how do we say, “the cat”? Instead of adding en and ett before the noun, we include it as a suffix. That means en katt becomes katten. And ett hus becomes huset with one T at the end.
However, when the noun ends with a vowel like this: skola, we remove the letter E from the suffix. skolan. äpplet.
Most common ett words
Since the large majority of words in Swedish are en words, let’s take a look at the most common ett words – that way, you’ll have a better idea when figuring out which gender to use.
| a year | ett år |
| a child | ett barn |
| a place | ett ställe |
| a company | ett företag |
| a home | ett hem |
| a country | ett land |
| a job | ett jobb |
| a name | ett namn |
| a problem | ett problem |
| an end | ett slut |
Conversation
Let’s put what we’ve learned into practice with an example conversation.
Elias and Freja walk through a small town on a sunny afternoon.
Elias och Freja promenerar genom en liten stad en solig eftermiddag.
Look, there's a new café over there!
Titta, det är ett nytt kafé där borta!
Elias
Yes, I see it. Do you want a coffee?
Ja, jag ser det. Vill du ha en kaffe?
Freja
I'd love one! And maybe a cinnamon bun too.
Gärna! Och kanske en bulle också.
Elias
They walk past a park with a large tree.
De går förbi en park med ett stort träd.
What a beautiful tree! And look at that bench under it.
Vilket vackert träd! Och titta på den där bänken under det.
Freja
Shall we sit there after coffee?
Ska vi sitta där efter kaffet?
Elias
That's a good idea. Oh, here's a bakery too.
Det är en bra idé. Åh, här är ett bageri också.
Freja
I love the smell. They sell bread and biscuits.
Jag älskar doften. De säljer bröd och kakor.
Elias
And cakes! Shall we buy a chocolate cake?
Och tårtor! Ska vi köpa en chokladkaka?
Freja
Yes, that'll be nice for this evening.
Ja, det blir gott till kvällen.
Elias
They walk on and arrive at the square.
De går vidare och kommer till torget.
Look, there's a small square with a fountain.
Se, där är ett litet torg med en fontän.
Freja
And there's a flower shop. Do you want flowers?
Och där är en blomsteraffär. Vill du ha blommor?
Elias
Not today. But we need milk for tomorrow.
Inte idag. Men vi behöver mjölk till imorgon.
Freja
There's a grocery shop by the station.
Det finns en livsmedelsaffär vid stationen.
Elias
Great! Let's go there.
Jättebra! Vi går dit.
Freja
It’s quiz time!
Were you able to spot the two noun genders in that conversation? Let’s test your knowledge with a quiz!
Which article do we use for the Swedish word “hem”?
ett
en
The correct answer is ett. ett hem.
How do you say “the book” in Swedish?
boken
ett bok
en bok
The correct answer is… boken. The two other answers used the indefinite article “a book”.
Which gender do en words belong to?
Common gender
Neuter gender
The correct answer is… common gender.
Your task
Well done for getting this far!
Now your task is to look around your room and find five different items. If you don’t know what Swedish gender they are, have a look for the word on our website or in your Swedish dictionary.
Be sure to leave a like if you enjoyed this lesson and hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out on future videos. Our website is full of fun games across 7 languages, so head on over and put your skills to the test! Until next time, thanks for watching!
