Some random useful words

Thank you - Tack
Thank you very much - Tack så mycket
Yes - Ja
No - Nej
Really - Verkligen
Computer - Dator
House - Hus
Family - Familj
Road - Väg
Street - Gata
Car - Bil
Bike - Cykel

MP3

Counting: 1 to 10

One - Ett
Two - Två
Three - Tre
Four - Fyra
Five - Fem
Six - Sex
Seven - Sju
Eight - Åtta
Nine - Nio
Ten - Tio

MP3

"En", "Ett", "Den" and "Det"

The Swedish language doesn't have an equivalent for the English word "the". Instead, the name of the object of matter will be longer.

Example:
a dog - en hund
the dog - hunden
a glass - ett glas
the glass - glaset

As you can see, objects ends either with -en or -et in definite form (singular).
But, how does one know when to put -en or -et after a word? That's up to you to remember. It's one of the more difficult stages in learning Swedish, unfortunately.

All words ending with -en, like hunden, are using Den, when referred to.
All words ending with -et, like glaset, are using Det, when referred to.

Example:
"I bought a new skirt today. Do you like it?"
"Jag köpte en ny kjol idag. Gillar du den?"

Now we know that the word "kjol" means skirt, and that it should end with -en when referred to; kjolen.

When to use "en" or "ett" (which is the words for "a") is easy to know.
If "den" is being used, "en" is the correct word.
If "det" is being used, "ett" is the correct word.


Lycka till!

The Swedish Alphabet

The Swedish alphabet is similar to the English one, except for three extra letters in the end. So, after "Z" there's:
Å, Ä, Ö
Unfortunately I can't tell you why we have them, because I don't know the story behind that :) But I made another mp3-file with useful stuff for you, and it's available here:
MP3
Lycka till! (means "Good luck")

Basic greetings & I, Me, You

Here are some greetings being used in Sweden:

Hi - Hej
Hello - Hallå
Good day - Goddag
Bye - Hejdå
Goodbye - Adjö
See you later - Vi ses, vi syns

And these are the Swedish words for I, Me, You and further on:

I - Jag
Me - Mig
You - Du (used for a single person), Ni (for two persons or more)
We - Vi
He - Han
Him - Honom
She - Hon
Her - Henne
It - Den, Det (I will do a follow-up on the differences between these two later)
They, Them - De, Dem
That - Den där

Useful phrases:
How are you? - "Hur mår du?"
I'm good! - "Jag mår bra!" or "Jag är bra!"


Download an mp3-file with pronunciations here:
MP3
As you can see, it's all very basic and short. Mainly because I'm all new to this teaching thing, but hopefully I'll expand these lessons as we go on.

So, who am I?

Hello and welcome to my "learning Swedish" blog. My goal with this blog is to teach Swedish to anybody who's willing to learn.
My name is Erik Karlsson. I'm 21 (born in 1985), and I live in Umeå, Sweden. Currently I'm a teacher student, studying the Music and English subjects for "grundskolans senare år" or "högstadiet" in Swedish schools (kids between the ages of 14-16). I'm soon done with the Music subject, and will begin with English this autumn.

My biggest interests in life is Music, Photography, Languages and the Internet. I have a regular blog at http://www.ekarlsson.se/blog
Apart from my ordinary lessons, feel free to ask or comment about anything you'd want to know.

And again, welcome!