Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Philip Holmes, Ian Hinchliffe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134120055
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Lingue e linguistica
• Subtopic: Lingue

Winner of the Swedish National Language Council's Erik Wellander Prize, 2003

Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar is an award-winning complete reference guide to modern Swedish grammar. Systematic and accessible, the volume is organised to promote a thorough understanding of Swedish grammar, presenting the complexities of Swedish in a concise and readable form. Explanations are full, clear and free of jargon, and an extensive index, numbered paragraphs, cross-references and summary charts provide readers with easy access to the information they require.

Now in its third edition, the text has been comprehensively updated to conform to new standards set in the description of language and to reflect the recommendations of the Language Council of Sweden. It offers an improved layout, completely revised index and more user-friendly paragraph structure. Continuing the tradition of previous editions, the emphasis remains fixed on Swedish in everyday communication, drawing on modern corpus material, the internet and the media to provide high frequency words and expressions. Examples have been modernised throughout and new content takes account of recent trends resulting from the increasing democratisation of written Swedish.

Features include:

• detailed treatment of grammatical structures and parts of speech
• a wealth of examples from present-day Swedish
• particular attention to areas of confusion and difficulty for learners
• Swedish/English contrasts highlighted throughout the book
• chapters on word formation, orthography and punctuation.

Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar is the most thorough and detailed Swedish grammar available in English and is an essential reference source for the learner and user of Swedish, irrespective of level. It is ideal for use in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types.

Chapter 1

Nouns

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Different types of noun

Proper nouns:

Björn; Stockholm; Sverige, Sweden; IKEA

Common nouns:

Concrete nouns: bil, car; dator, computer; hus, house; katt cat; kvinna, woman; stol, chair

Abstract nouns: begåvning, intelligence; glädje, joy; mjukhet, softness; sorg, grief; sjukdom, illness

Nouns may also be classified as:

Count nouns, i.e. concrete things and creatures: bulle, bun; student, student; träd, tree

– Some abstracts are count nouns: färg, colour; leende, smile; skratt, laugh

Non-count nouns, i.e. substances: bensin, petrol; luft, air; vatten, water

– Some abstract nouns are non-count nouns: lycka, happiness; vithet, whiteness. Also: pengar, money.

For noun compounds see 11.3.2–11.3.5.

1.1.2 Genders

Swedish nouns are of one of two genders, non-neuter and neuter shown by the form of the indefinite and definite article (1.9f.). Non-neuter nouns take the indefinite article en and the end article (definite article) -(e)n:

en bil, a car	en kvinna, a woman
bilen, the car	kvinnan, the woman

Some grammars use the term ‘common’ for ‘non-neuter’. Others use ‘n-word’ or ‘en-word’ for the non-neuter noun and ‘t-word’ or ‘ett-word’ for the neuter noun.

Neuter nouns take the indefinite article ett and the end article (definite article) -(e)t:

ett bord, a table	ett yrke, a profession
bordet, the table	yrket, the profession

About seventy-five per cent of all nouns occurring in newspaper text are non-neuter. In many cases either the form of the noun, usually its final syllable, or its meaning may provide a clue to its gender.

1.1.3 Indefinite plural forms

Plurals are indicated by a number of different endings according to declension. See 1.4.2–1.4.9.

en hylla – hyllor, a shelf – shelves; en pärm – pärmar, a folder – folders; en dator – datorer, a computer – computers; en studio – studior, a studio – studios; ett tema – teman, a...