Swedish (Svenska)

Swedish is a North Germanic language with around 9 million speakers mainly in Sweden and Finland, and also in Estonia, Norway, Canada and the USA. It is closely related to Norwegian and Danish and is mutually intelligible with them to a large extent, particularly in its written form.

One of the earliest uses of Swedish as a literary language was "Gustav Vasa's Bible", translated and published in 1540-1 under the patronage of King Gustav Vasa.

Finland was ruled by Sweden from the 12th century until 1809 and during that period, Swedish was the main language of government and education there. Today Finnish and Swedish have equal status as official languages in Finland.

Swedish alphabet (svenska alfabetet)
A a	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j
a	be	se	de	e	eff	ge	hå	i	ji
K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	T t
kå	ell	em	en	o	pe	ku	ärr	ess	te
U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z	Å å	Ä ä	Ö ö
u	ve	dubbel-ve	eks	y	säta	å	ä	ö

Note

Z only appears in foreign loanwords.

Pronunciation

Swedish pronunciation

Notes on the pronuncition of Swedish

Notes

A detailed guide to Swedish pronunciation (with audio) can be found at:
http://web.hhs.se/isa/swedish/chap9.htm

Sample text in Swedish

Alla människor är födda fria och lika i värde och rättigheter. De är utrustade med förnuft och samvete och bör handla gentemot varandra i en anda av broderskap.

A recording of this text by Anders

Another version of this text by Glenn Brude

Alla människor är födda fria och lika i värdighet och rättigheter. De är utrustade med förnuft och samvete och bör handla gentemot varandra i en anda av broderskap.

A recording of this text by Glenn Brude

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Tower of Babel of in Swedish | Useful phrases in Swedish

Swedish language learning materials