Language/Swedish/Grammar/When-use-Ett-or-En

"Ett" Versus "En" in Swedish

Hej everyone 😀!

In today's lesson you will learn WHEN TO USE ETT & EN in Swedish.

In English, both articles "Ett" and "En" translate to "a" but when to use ett or en? Is there a grammatical rule to use?

NOUN FORMS

DEFINITE FORM

When we want a noun to be in definite form we add a suffix to the noun; -en, -n or -et.

For example:

• Ett bord = Bordet
• En hund = Hunden
• Ett äpple = Äpplet
• En skola = Skolan

Here we just add -n since the word already ends with a vowel.

As you might have noticed, you can know which suffix to use by looking at the indefinite article.

• If it's an "En-word", the suffix is -en or -n.
• If it's an "Ett-word", the suffix is -et.

INDEFINITE FORM

In Swedish, we have two words to choose when we want to write about nouns in an indefinite form: En or Ett.

Examples:

• Ett bord = A table
• En hund = A dog
• Ett äpple = An apple
• En skola = A school

IS THERE A GRAMMATICAL RULE?

Native English speakers often make the following mistake:

• En (Swedish article) = An (English article)
• Ett (Swedish article) = A (English article)

⚠ This rule is wrong!

→ There is no grammatical rule to know when to use En or Ett, you just simply have to learn them.

GOOD NEWS: THERE ARE SOME GUIDELINES

Yes! There are some guidelines that can help you to predict the gender:

• Most of the human beings and animals are en nouns. (Exceptions: ett barn, ett djur, ett bi, ett lejon).
• Days, months, seasons are en nouns (Exception: ett dygn).
• Most of the nouns that end in -ad, -are, -dom, -else, -het, -ing, -ning, -ion, -ism, -lek, -nad, -or are en nouns.
• Most of the nouns that end in -ande, -ende, -ek, -em, -iv, -um are ett nouns. Names of continents, countries, provinces, towns are ett nouns

EXAMPLES (in several languages)

ENGLISH	SWEDISH	PRONUNCIATION IN ENGLISH	FRENCH	PORTUGUESE
A table	Ett bord	eht bohr	Une table	Uma mesa
A dog	En hund	ehn hoon	Un chien	Um cachorro
An apple	Ett äpple	eht eh pleh	Une pomme	Uma maçã
A school	En skola	ehn skoo lah	Une école	Uma escola
The table	Bordet	bohr deht	La table	A mesa
The dog	Hunden	hoon dehn	Le chien	O cachorro
The apple	Äpplet	eh pleht	La pomme	A maçã
The school	Skolan	skoh lahn	L'école	A escola

More examples

• En bil (masculine): A car
• Ett hus (neuter): A house
• En bok (feminine): A book
• Ett barn (neuter): A child
• En hund (masculine): A dog
• Ett äpple (neuter): An apple
• En skola (feminine): A school
• Ett bibliotek (neuter): A library
• En stol (feminine): A chair
• Ett fönster (neuter): A window

• En cykel (masculine): A bicycle
• Ett träd (neuter): A tree
• En blomma (feminine): A flower
• Ett bord (neuter): A table
• En biljett (feminine): A ticket
• Ett kort (neuter): A card
• En dag (masculine): A day
• Ett år (neuter): A year
• En film (feminine): A movie
• Ett spel (neuter): A game
• En gata (feminine): A street
• Ett museum (neuter): A museum
• En kopp (feminine): A cup
• Ett husdjur (neuter): A pet
• En vän (feminine): A friend