Language/Swedish/Grammar/When-use-Ett-or-En
Hej everyone 😀!
In today's lesson, we will be exploring the proper use of "Ett" and "En" in the Swedish language. These two articles both translate to "a" in English, but it can be challenging to determine when to use which one. In this lesson, we will cover the grammatical rules and patterns that govern the use of "Ett" and "En" in Swedish, including the gender of the noun and its declension. By the end of this lesson, you will have a solid understanding of how to use these articles correctly, which will help you communicate more effectively in Swedish. Please feel free to add to this page if you have any suggestions or additional information to share. We hope you enjoy this lesson and find it helpful in your language learning journey!
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 of Nouns with En and Ett
- 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
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