Introducing yourself: first words
The basic words for saying who you are: your name, country, home, work, family and languages.
Every first conversation in Swedish is built from the same small set of words. Learn each noun with its en or ett, plus the four verbs that do most of the work: heta, komma, bo and jobba.
- 1
hej
hi
Tip: Works with anyone, at any time of day. Say it twice for extra warmth.
- 2
ett namn
a name
Tip: An ett-word, so 'my' and 'your' take their ett-forms.
- 3
ett förnamn
a first name
Tip: lit. 'fore-name'. Swedes use first names with almost everyone.
- 4
ett efternamn
a surname
Tip: lit. 'after-name'.
- 5
att heta
to be called
Tip: Swedes say 'I am called…' to give their name: Jag heter Sara.
- 6
att stava
to spell
Tip: Handy when your name is new to Swedes.
- 7
ett land
a country
Tip: Plural: länder.
- 8
ett hemland
a home country
Tip: hem (home) + land (country).
- 9
att komma från
to come from
Tip: Swedes say 'I come from…' where English says 'I'm from…'.
- 10
en stad
a city, a town
Tip: Casually, 'stan' means the town centre.
- 11
att bo
to live (somewhere)
Tip: Only for where you live. Being alive is 'leva'.
- 12
en adress
an address
Tip: Spelled with dd and ss.
- 13
en lägenhet
an apartment
Tip: Most people in Swedish cities live in one.
- 14
en granne
a neighbour
Tip: Also used about the building next door or the country next door.
- 15
ett jobb
a job
Tip: Casual and very common. The formal word is ett arbete.
- 16
ett yrke
a profession
Tip: The word you'll see on forms.
- 17
att jobba
to work
Tip: Casual but used everywhere; the formal verb is arbeta.
- 18
en student
a student
Tip: Mainly at university. School pupils are called elever.
- 19
att plugga
to study
Tip: Casual. The neutral word is studera.
- 20
en kollega
a colleague
Tip: Plural ends in -or.
- 21
ett språk
a language
Tip: Same form in the plural.
- 22
svenska
Swedish (the language)
Tip: Language names are written in lowercase.
- 23
engelska
English (the language)
Tip: Lowercase, like every language name.
- 24
en svensk
a Swede
Tip: Nationalities are lowercase in Swedish too.
- 25
en familj
a family
Tip: Ends in -j, not -y.
- 26
en sambo
a partner (you live with)
Tip: Short for 'sammanboende'. Many Swedish couples live together for years without marrying.
- 27
en fru
a wife
Tip: Min fru = my wife.
- 28
en man
a husband
Tip: Same word as 'a man'. Min man = my husband.
- 29
gift
married
Tip: Not a present! Use it after jag är: I'm married.
- 30
singel
single
Tip: Same idea as in English, after jag är.
- 31
ett barn
a child
Tip: Same form in the plural: one child, two children use the same word.
- 32
trevlig
nice, pleasant
Tip: Takes -t after det: it's nice.