Swedish: An Essential Grammar

This fully revised third edition of Swedish: An Essential Grammar incorporates changes proposed to Swedish grammar by Svenska Akademiens grammatik. Examples have been fully updated and the bibliography has been expanded. Swedish: An Essential Grammar provides a fresh and accessible description of the language. Explanations are free of jargon and emphasis has been placed on areas of Swedish that pose a particular challenge for English-speaking learners.The book offers: • a clear, accessible format; • authentic examples of language use, taken from a range of media; • clear, jargon-free explanations of grammar. Suitable for independent study or for class-based tuition, Swedish: An Essential Grammar continues to be an invaluable source to all learners looking to improve their knowledge of Swedish grammar.

Table of Contents:
Preface Symbols and abbreviations used in the text Introduction 0.1 Some advice for the beginner 0.2 Similarities between Swedish and English 0.2.1 Vocabulary 0.2.2 Grammar Chapter 1 Pronunciation 1.1 Vowels 1.1.1 Stressed vowels and their pronunciation 1.1.2 Pronunciation of unstressed vowels 1.1.3 Vowel length 1.1.4 Syllable length 1.2 Consonants and consonant groups 1.2.1 s, z, c, sc 1.2.2 j, gj, dj, hj, lj 1.2.3 r, t, l, x, w 1.2.4 g, k, sk 1.2.5 ng, gn, kn, mn 1.2.6 rs, rd, rt, rn, rl 1.2.7 Omitting -d, -g, -t, -k, -l 1.2.8 Omitting -e 1.2.9 Voiced consonants pronounced unvoiced before -s, -t 1.2.10 Complete assimilation of -t- 1.2.11 Written and spoken forms of some common words 1.2.12 Assimilation Chapter 2 Stress and accent 2.1 Sentence stress 2.2 Word stress 2.3 Accent 2.4 Functions of accent 1 and accent 2 2.5 Rules for accent 1 and accent 2 Chapter 3 Nouns 3.1 Gender and noun type 3.1.1 Gender 3.1.2 Gender rules 3.1.3 Types of noun 3.2 Indefinite declension 3.2.1 Indefinite forms 3.2.2 Plurals 3.2.3 Plurals – predictability 3.2.4 Rules for predicting plural forms 3.3 Plural forms 3.3.1 Plurals in -or (first declension) 3.3.2 Plurals in -ar (second declension) 3.3.3 Plurals in -er (third declension) 3.3.4 Plurals in -r (fourth declension) 3.3.5 Plurals in -n (fifth declension) 3.3.6 Zero plurals (no plural ending, sixth declension) 3.3.7 Plurals in -s (seventh declension) 3.3.8 Collective nouns 3.3.9 Nouns with no plural form or no singular form 3.4 Differences in number between Swedish and English 3.4.1 Differences in number 3.5 Definite declension 3.5.1 Forms with end article singular 3.5.2 Forms with end article plural 3.6 Article use 3.6.1 End article in Swedish, no article in English 3.6.2 End article in Swedish, indefinite article in English 3.6.3 No article in Swedish, definite article in English 3.6.4 No article in Swedish, indefinite article in English 3.6.5 End article in Swedish, possessive pronoun in English 3.6.6 Article use with demonstrative pronouns 3.6.7 No article after the possessive 3.7 Genitives 3.7.1 The genitive Chapter 4 Adjectives 4.1 Adjectives in outline 4.2 Indefinite declension 4.2.1 Indefinite forms – regular 4.2.2 Indefinite forms – variations 4.2.3 Indeclinable adjectives 4.2.4 Indefinite constructions 4.2.5 Agreement and lack of agreement 4.3 Definite declension 4.3.1 Definite form of the adjective: -e or -a? 4.3.2 Definite construction Type 1 – den nya bilen 4.3.3 Definite construction Type 2 – firmans nya bil 4.3.4 Definite construction Type 3 – svenska språket 4.3.5 Definite construction Type 4 – första klass 4.3.6 Definite constructions – summary chart 4.4 Adjectival nouns and nationality words 4.4.1 Adjectival nouns 4.4.2 Nationality words 4.5 Comparison of adjectives 4.5.1 Comparison with -are, -ast 4.5.2 Comparison with -re, -st 4.5.3 Irregular comparison 4.5.4 Comparison with mer, mest 4.5.5 Comparison – indefinite and definite with -are and -ast 4.5.6 Use of comparatives and superlatives Chapter 5 Pronouns 5.1 Personal and reflexive pronouns – form 5.2 Use of personal pronouns 5.3 Reflexive pronouns 5.4 Själv 5.5 Possessive pronouns 5.6 Non-reflexive and reflexive possessives: hans or sin? 5.6.1 Non-reflexive forms 5.6.2 Reflexive forms 5.6.3 Some special uses of sin, sitt, sina 5.7 Forms of address 5.8 Demonstrative pronouns 5.9 Determinative pronouns 5.10 Relative pronouns 5.11 Interrogative pronouns 5.12 Indefinite pronouns Chapter 6 Numerals 6.1 Cardinal and ordinal numbers 6.2 Use of cardinal and ordinal numbers 6.3 Other numerical expressions 6.4 Clock time Chapter 7 Verbs 7.1 Verb forms in outline 7.2 The four conjugations 7.2.1 First conjugation 7.2.2 Irregular verbs of the first conjugation 7.2.3 Second conjugation 7.2.4 Irregular verbs of the second conjugation 7.2.5 Third conjugation 7.2.6 Irregular verbs of the third conjugation 7.2.7 Fourth conjugation: introduction 7.2.8 Fourth conjugation: gradation series i – e – i 7.2.9 Fourth conjugation: gradation series y/(j)u – ö – u 7.2.10 Fourth conjugation: gradation series i – a – u 7.2.11 Fourth conjugation: gradation series a – o – a 7.2.12 Fourth conjugation: gradation series ä – a – u 7.2.13 Fourth conjugation: minor gradation series (mixed) 7.3 Form and function 7.4 The infinitive 7.4.1 Infinitive – verbal use 7.4.2 Infinitive – nominal use 7.4.3 Use of the infinitive in English and Swedish 7.4.4 Translating ‘-ing’ forms 7.5 Present tense 7.6 Past tense 7.7 Perfect tense 7.8 Pluperfect tense 7.9 Future tense 7.10 Participles and supine 7.10.1 Supine and past participle forms 7.10.2 Use of the supine and past participle 7.10.3 Present participle 7.11 Mood and modal verbs 7.11.1 Use of modal verbs 7.11.2 Subjunctive 7.11.3 Imperative 7.12 Transitive, intransitive and reflexive verbs 7.12.1 Transitive and intransitive verbs 7.12.2 Reflexive verbs 7.13 -s forms 7.13.1 Use of -s forms 7.13.2 Passive 7.14 Translating verbs 7.14.1 Some problems in translating English verbs 7.14.2 Translating the English verb ‘to be’ 7.15 Compound verbs 7.15.1 Inseparable and separable compound verbs 7.15.2 Stylistic and semantic differences between separable and inseparable compounds Chapter 8 Adverbs 8.1 Forms of adverbs 8.2 Use of adverbs 8.3 Adverbs indicating location and motion 8.4 Some problematic adverbs 8.5 Discourse particles Chapter 9 Interjections 9.1 Interjections Chapter 10 Prepositions 10.1 Prepositions – introduction 10.2 The most common Swedish prepositions 10.2.1 Av 10.2.2 Från 10.2.3 För 10.2.4 I 10.2.5 Med 10.2.6 Om 10.2.7 På 10.2.8 Till 10.2.9 Under 10.2.10 Vid 10.3 Translating prepositions 10.3.1 Some common English prepositions and their Swedish equivalents 10.3.2 Translating ‘in, on, at’, etc. in expressions of time 10.3.3 Prepositions in expressions of time – summary 10.3.4 Translating ‘in, on, at’ in expressions of place 10.3.5 Translating ‘of’ Chapter 11 Conjunctions 11.1 Coordinating conjunctions 11.2 Subordinating conjunctions 11.3 Other subordinators 11.4 Some problematic conjunctions Chapter 12 Word order and sentence structure 12.1 Word classes and sentence elements 12.2 Simplified introduction: Four basic rules 12.3 Sentence types 12.4 Main clause structure 12.5 Link position 12.6 Extra positions 12.7 Main clause positions (sentence elements) 12.7.1 Subject and formal subject 12.7.2 Finite verb 12.7.3 Non-finite verb 12.7.4 Clausal adverbial 12.7.5 Other adverbials 12.7.6 Objects and complements 12.7.7 Verb particle 12.7.8 Passive agent 12.7.9 Main clause structure – extended positional scheme with examples 12.8 Moving elements within the main clause 12.8.1 Topicalization 12.8.2 Weight principle 12.8.3 Adverbial shift 12.8.4 Unstressed objects 12.8.5 Position of inte 12.8.6 Passive transformation 12.8.7 Existential sentence 12.8.8 Cleft sentence 12.9 Subordinate clauses 12.9.1 Subordinate clause as an element in the main clause sentence 12.9.2 Subordinate clause structure 12.9.3 Three types of subordinate clause with main clause structure Chapter 13 Word formation 13.1 Compounding 13.2 Affixation 13.3 Abbreviation Chapter 14 Orthography 14.1 Upper-case or lower-case letters? 14.2 Spelling of words ending in -m, -n Chapter 15 Punctuation 15.1 Comma 15.2 Full stop 15.3 Colon 15.4 Exclamation mark 15.5 Apostrophe 15.6 Direct speech conventions 15.7 Hyphen Chapter 16 Written and spoken Swedish 16.1 Words frequently omitted in spoken Swedish 16.2 Words and constructions frequently found in spoken Swedish 16.3 Words usually found only in written Swedish Linguistic terms A note on Finland-Swedish Short bibliography Index