The most common confusion with substantives is the -en suffix. Lets start with a question.
Which of the following words is en-ord?
a) äpplen
b) husen
c) hunden
The correct answer is 'en hund' of course.
ett äpple => äpplen (plural obestämd)
ett hus => husen (plural bestämd)
en hund => hunden (singular)
It is difficult to guess whether a word is an "ett-ord" or "en-ord" without seeing the context it is used in. That is why it is important to digest ett-words first so that you don't get confused quickly.
Even though there are some exceptions, the rules to pluralize en words can be classified in three groups:
- Words ending with -a gets -or suffix.
- Swedish en words get -ar suffix
- International en words get -er suffix
Till exempel
en gurka => två gurkor
en flicka => två flickor
en krona => fem kronor
Till exempel
en övning => två övningar
en kompis => två kompisar
en tidning => två tidningar
Till exempel
en banan => två bananer
en restaurang => fyra restauranger
en person => tre personer
The first rule is straightforward, when use see a word ending in a, just use -or suffix to pluralize. However, second and third rules might be confusing because it is easy to mix some Swedish words with international words and use the incorrect plural. Therefore, it is good to know basic international-looking Swedish words.
en buss => två bussar
If I follow the rules above, as an english speaking man, I would probably pick the third rule and use busser instead.
As a rule of thumb, the fruits and vegetables which do not grow in Sweden are international words.
- banan => bananer
- apelsin => apelsiner
- tomat => tomater
- citron => citroner
I will continue with plural bestämd forms, exceptions and summarize the substantives in my next post.
4 kommentarer:
tack
Kanske är jättepetig nu, men sverige på engelska stavas med stor bokstav (till skillnad från svenskan). Således bör det stå Swedish words och Sweden....
Tack för det.
Bus in English is buss in Swedish. Two S's. Which makes it less likely that one will look at it as an international word.
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