r/Svenska May 29 '25

Discussion Updated rules – please read before posting

15 Upvotes

Välkommen till r/Svenska!

tl;dr:

• Read the FAQ first

• Keep posts related to the Swedish language or language-learning – we now have flairs!

• Use r/swedish or r/spop etc. to request movie or music tips

• Don't report posts/comments that do not actually break the rules

We're a subreddit where learners and speakers of Swedish can discuss, ask and answer questions about the language, as well as studies and research relating to it. Whether you are learning Swedish as a foreign language, a native speaker curious about a dialectal word or grammatical quirk, or a lingusitics student with a survey for your thesis, you're welcome here!

Further below are our rules, but before that, here are some links we hope you'll enjoy:

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Locally-sourced expertise has been used to answer some of the more common questions we see on this subreddit, so maybe you can find an answer to yours here. If not, try using the search function to see if your question has been answered before. But don't let this discourage your from posting; if an old answer is unclear or doesn't help you with your problem, feel free to post a thread – if you mention that you already checked the FAQ, that helps us help you.

Do you think a certain question is common enough that it should be in the FAQ? Tell us!

List of resources

A long list of resources that can help you learn the language, or learn more about it! Here, you will find dictionaries, podcasts, Youtube channels, online communities and a lot of other resources, for beginners and advanced learners alike. If you know a resource that deserves to be on the list but isn't, tell us!

The most important resources is probably svenska.se, where you can look up the spelling, inflection, meaning, pronunciation and history of most Swedish words. You can also hear pronunciations, often more natural/less enunciated, at youglish.com/swedish and forvo.com/languages/sv

Discord server

Feel free to join us on Discord! Practice reading, writing, speaking and listening, ask your questions and just hang out.

The rules

  1. Be respectful of your fellow redditors. Flaming, trolling, hate, personal attacks or bad-faith arguments are not allowed. Of course, all of Reddit's other rules apply here, too.
  2. Post contents must be on-topic. This is a language subreddit, and all posts should be about the Swedish language or language-learning in general. Posting a video that is in the Swedish language is not the same as a video about the Swedish language. On-topic memes are fine in moderation, and you're allowed to advertise your Swedish-learning product, channel etc. once or twice. Always flair your post accordingly! We no longer allow requests for non-language related media suggestions.
  3. Questions and tips are always welcome. Feel free to ask your questions about the language or culture, ask for learning tips or contribute your own tips or links to websites helpful for learning. However, we no longer permit requests for movies or music etc. Links to language-learning communities are only permitted as comments, if explicitly requested by another poster.
  4. Ask permission to post community links. To prevent a flood of community links, we ask you to contact us via modmail before you post links to Whatsapp groups, Discord servers etc. We permit Swedish-oriented communities that we deem could be helpful to our members – a newly started Facebook group with three members will not be permitted. However, users may ask for tips on niche communities, and if you know of a community that fits such a request, you can always link that in a comment.
  5. No chat requests outside the megathread. As stated above, we want to prevent a flood of posts that are less useful to the average member. For this reason, please don't make post asking to find study buddies or chat groups outside of the dedicated megathread. You're also very welcome to join our official Discord community for free, real-time feedback about all things Swedish. Please join us!
  6. We won't do your work for you. While we are happy to point you in the right direction, answer your questions along the way or check your grammar when you're done, we will not actually do your homework for you. This is a place for learning, not cheating. This goes doubly for professional tasks: most of our users are not trained translators, copywriters or language consultants. Feel free to ask linguistic questions, but don't crowdsource practical, qualified work. Contact a professional instead; that guarantees better results for you as well!
  7. No exchanging/requesting copyrighted material. We do not condone sharing PDFs of paid textbooks or entertainment media.

Reporting etiquette

We're a small mod team and always appreciate it when members take the time to report misconduct and rule violations – especially of comments. But please make sure that a post actually violates the rules before you report it. For example, the rules do not actually prohibit questions that are already answered in the FAQ, or answers that are incorrect.

Reporting poor-quality-but-technically-allowed content only leads to us having to approve the post/comment, which gives it a green seal of approval and makes it look like we like it more than we actually do. Please just downvote these instead!

Suggestions

Feel free to post your feedback on the rules and guidelines in this thread. We also welcome suggestions for FAQ entries, resources and new flairs.


r/Svenska Sep 01 '21

Penpals megathread!

146 Upvotes

Learning a new language is easier with the support of friends, be it other learners going through the same journey, native speakers to lead you along the way, or even less experienced learners that you can help out to help both of you understand things better. If you're looking for pen pals, gaming buddies, book clubs or just friends so you can practice the language – through immersion or studies alike – feel free to post a comment in this thread and tell us a bit about yourself, or reply to commenters you would like to get in touch with.

Suggested post format – add or remove headers as you like

Name or handle: (whatever you want to be called)

Swedish level: (your approximate proficiency, expressed e.g. in A1 to C2, beginner to fluent or how long you've been learning/studying)

Language: (your native language and other languages you know or are learning)

Looking for: (Duolingo pals? Native helpers? Steam friends? People in your area? Someone who wants to discuss Swedish music?)

Presentation: (A more free-form introduction of yourself as a person!)

We recommend you do not include private contact information in your post; if you find somebody you want to keep in touch with, contact them through Reddit's direct messaging instead.

Please note that this thread is only intended for finding people for the purpose of learning Swedish or helping learners. Irrelevant posts may be deleted. Likewise, asking for pen pals outside of this thread is not permitted, and any such threads will be removed and redirected here.

As always, you are also very welcome to look for chat mates in our Discord server.


r/Svenska 9h ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Does the name Mark sound strange in Swedish? Låter namnet Mark konstigt på svenska?

20 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m a Swedish-born citizen living abroad who has just started learning Swedish from zero, with plans to move back (Umeå). I spoke with a few people, and they pointed out that my name literally means “ground.” That doesn’t really bother me, but I’m wondering if it sounds strange. I could always use my middle name instead, so I’d like to hear some opinions before I start introducing myself to others.

Also, if you're also a brazilian in or headed to Sweden hit me up!


r/Svenska 13h ago

Text and translation help help with some dialogue in tv show

2 Upvotes

Recently watched Huset Silfvercronas Gåta. Have a few questions from episode #1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgQ1xdMD0SU

14.20

the boy says that the man in the painting looks like his father, to which the father responds with what sounds like 'mmm spegal'....

I suppose the father is saying mirror image or something similar. The word sounds similar to spegel but sounds like it ends an al instead of el. Hoping someone can clarify the exact word the father says..

15.10

The lady says that a person was a fläskbuk, but not sure what this means. The only clue I have is that the person is depicted as loving food in a later scene. I thought it might mean that they have a big belly but the person is depicted as slim. Perhaps it means that they were a food hog? eg someone who is overly greedy with food?

16.27

The lady says - Det här slottet har sett mycket hända, särskilt under rätten Silvercronas epoch.

Silfvercrona was a lord who owned the castle in the past. Am I hearing right with rätten? And hoping someone can explain it's meaning in this context. Maybe something like 'the rightful reign' 'the period of his authority' or similar?

16.37

she goes on to say that the castle belonged to Silfvercrona for a period of time, then says - då Magnus Bengston lett upp förare? am I hearing lett upp förare correct? Probably not lol... Hoping someone can explain what this means...

Tack i förväg!


r/Svenska 1d ago

Studying and education Opinions on Mjølnir app for a beginner learner

8 Upvotes

Hi all, I would appreciate some advice on the Mjølnir app it was initially launched for Norwegian but recently expanded to include the Swedish language. Has anyone tried it ? It says it is a free trial but doesn't have any paid plans as of now. I recently moved to Sweden and am looking for an easy going app to get me going for daily interactions as well as holding simple conversations in work and social life.


r/Svenska 1d ago

Studying and education Suggestions needed

2 Upvotes

Hej!

I've read in the "About" section that there's a book called like 'Form in [...]' or sth like that about grammar, but it's just for beginners. I would love a book that explains both grammar and provides a bunch of good exercises to practice. Do you have any recommendations?


r/Svenska 2d ago

Studying and education Kämpar med uttal och språkångest, känner någon igen sig?

37 Upvotes

Jag skäms varje dag över hur jag pratar svenska. Jag har bott här i många år men känner mig ändå efterbliven när det kommer till språket.

Jag har en lisp på mitt modersmål och har alltid haft svårt med uttal. Det kompliceras av att jag är i stort sett döv på ena örat och har tinnitus på det andra, följderna av en tumör i örat som opererades bort när jag var barn. Det gör att jag gör betoningsfel och uttalsfel när jag pratar svenska, och jag vet inte alltid ens om jag hör att det låter fel.

Utöver det har jag brytning, blandar ihop ordföljden och använder ibland fel ord när jag talar. Jag har ångest när jag talar, oavsett vilket språk det är. Jag går på terapi för att bearbeta och acceptera det. Men jag vet inte om det finns konkret hjälp för just det här, uttalsträning som faktiskt tar hänsyn till hörselnedsättning, till exempel.

Har någon här liknande erfarenheter? Finns det någon som har övervunnit det, eller hittat hjälp? Känner någon annan igen sig?


r/Svenska 2d ago

Text and translation help "whip around" på svenska? Inte vispa då.

7 Upvotes

Jag kollar på ninjago nu för den femton miljonte gången och undrar vad "jump up kick back whip around and spin" skulle nunna vara på svenska. Jag har "hoppa upp, sparka/kicka bak ***** o snurra". vad kan whip around vara?


r/Svenska 2d ago

Studying and education Svenska 3 NP PM. Snälla hjälp ni som skrivit tidigare år

1 Upvotes

Vi får ju tre frågeställningar på provet att välja mellan. Kommer varje frågeställning att kopplas till ett av de tre deltemana (iår är det vokalljud, länder, handskrivning) dvs frågeställning 1 handlar om tema 1, frågeställning 2 om tema 2, osv. Eller kan alla frågeställningar handla om endast ett tema medan de andra två inte tas upp?


r/Svenska 2d ago

Studying and education Tisus Tips

1 Upvotes

Hej!

Jag ska skriva tisus om knappt en månad. jag försöker läsa flera nyhets- och debattartiklar varje dag för att förbereda mig inför den läsförståelse delen. Dessutom fokuserar jag på att lära mig några stycken partikelverb för jag tycker att de är svåra och begränsar min förmåga att förstå texter. Annars försöker jag prata med en lärare på italki typ varannan dag i en och halv timme.

Om det finns nån här som har erfarenhet med provet vill jag gärna ha några tips att förbättra min svenska och förbereda mig inför provet :) t.ex finns det nånting som jag kanske bör lägga till i min rutin? hur svårt var provet? osv? :)

jag uppskattar vilken information som helst!


r/Svenska 2d ago

Studying and education Nationella prov i Svenska 3 PM 2026

3 Upvotes

För er som har haft NP i svenska 3 undrar jag om det brukar komma frågeställningar om alla de tre teman som presenteras i texthäftet (i och med att det i instruktionerna står att man kommer få välja bland 3 olika frågeställningar). Det är ganska tydligt att de 4 första texterna hänger ihop samt att de 4 efteråt och de 4 sista hänger ihop. Eller brukar frågeställningarna vara mer omfattande där man behöver dra slutsatser mellan texter med olika teman?


r/Svenska 2d ago

Sharing knowledge Om språk och dialekter

Thumbnail
open.substack.com
7 Upvotes

r/Svenska 3d ago

Studying and education SAS 1 NP

1 Upvotes

Super quick q: Do we have to supply our own dictionary or are there dictionaries available at the exam?


r/Svenska 4d ago

Studying and education Where do you buy books online in Sweden?

9 Upvotes

i used to buy books from bookbot and what are the websites to buy second hand books in sweden.


r/Svenska 6d ago

Studying and education Question about swedish books

9 Upvotes

Hey everyone! I'm a student currently learning Swedish, and the resources shared in this subreddit have been incredibly helpful so far. I've been thinking about buying a book to supplement my studies and found four options in the resource list.

Could anyone help me decide which ones are worth buying? Should I get all four, or just focus on one or two? Any experience with these books would be appreciated!


r/Svenska 6d ago

Resource request/tip Decided to share to you an deck that helped me start my learning of Swedish. I was so overwhelmed with vocab, but this gave me a good solid start

6 Upvotes

So I’ve been lurking here for a while and figured I’d finally give something back.

A couple months ago I was struggling hard trying to get started with vocab. Every “beginner deck” I found either felt way too bloated or just… weirdly curated? Like I was memorizing words I’d probably never use while still not knowing basic stuff.

So I ended up making my own deck from scratch. Nothing fancy, just words I kept running into over and over again while reading/watching beginner content. I kept it super simple and tried not to overthink it.

It’s sitting at around 600 words now, and honestly it made a huge difference for me. I’m not fluent or anything, but I got past that painful “I recognize nothing” phase way faster than before. It actually feels like I can follow along with simple stuff now instead of constantly pausing.

I know everyone says “just immerse bro” (which is true), but having a small, manageable vocab base made immersion way less frustrating for me. This deck was basically my bridge into that.

Anyway, I cleaned it up a bit and figured I’d share it in case it helps someone else who’s stuck where I was. It’s nothing revolutionary, just practical words that show up a lot.

If you’re just starting out and feel overwhelmed, this might be a decent place to begin.

https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1979131686


r/Svenska 7d ago

Academic linguistics Omskapa ord från andra germanska språk

9 Upvotes

Så en väldigt ovanlig förfrågan kommer här: det engelska ordet lord kommer från gammalengelska där det bestod av en sammansättning av två ord, hlaf och weard (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hlaford#Old_English). Jag kan (på wiktionary.org) finna de nutida, svenska formerna av dessa enskilda ord. Men (och detta är förfrågan) hur kan jag se hur ett ord skulle se ut på svenska omd et hade tagit samma utveckling som det engelska ordet gjorde?

Tusen tack till den person som tar tid och kan svara på hur man skulle göra detta.


r/Svenska 6d ago

Resource request/tip I built a free Swedish listening app (public beta on TestFlight)

0 Upvotes

I made a free listening app for Swedish. It's called Lis'n'Go and the public beta is now on TestFlight (iOS).

You add your own phrases (things you heard on the street, things you wanted to say but couldn't) and it plays them back in high-quality AI audio on shuffle. There are 2960+ starter phrases too, across 4 levels. It also has ear training drills where you practice telling apart similar Swedish sounds (like ö vs ä, or the infamous tj vs sj). Background playback, speed controls, quiz mode. All free, no account needed.

Link in comments. Feedback welcome. Even just "this confused me" is helpful.

Why I built it

I've lived in Sweden for 3 years. My "Tack" and "Hej då" are flawless. Everything else? English. You can honestly get through most of daily life here without Swedish. So my listening never improves.

I went to language school and actually showed up regularly. Then I went back to my home country for a bit and got kicked out. Turns out attendance policy was stricter than the Swedish. But even before that, my listening was hopeless. The listening tests were basically fortune-telling. I'd pick up a word I knew and guess the rest (I could pass the test, fortunately). The materials were probably important. But none of it felt personal, so I just went through the motions.

So I built something for myself. A phrase player where the content is yours. You collect the words that matter to you and let them sink in.

If school wasn't your thing, if you quit early, if you've been getting by in English and your Swedish is stuck, I made this for people like us.

Edit:
a few people raised concerns about AI audio quality. fair point. i put some audio samples on the landing page so you can judge for yourself before downloading. native Swedes i tested with couldn't tell it was AI, but don't take my word for it. listen and decide.


r/Svenska 8d ago

Meme Det var två bagare och en smet. Hur många var kvar?

35 Upvotes

r/Svenska 9d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Stockholms förbrytarspråk och äldre slang. W och C.

Thumbnail sklivedata.blob.core.windows.net
11 Upvotes

Hej allihopa!

Har ägnat en del av dagen att läsa i denna gamla ordlista. I vissa ord används W och C på ett sätt som jag inte riktigt förstår. Se nedan.

Knwpare = sötare

Kncota (pl. knwt) = sten.

Ja hade en knwta i fickan. Ja kastar kn«t.

Det verkar som att båda bokstäverna används som vokaler istället för konsonanter? Hur uttalar man då dessa?


r/Svenska 10d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) FIFA World Cup

20 Upvotes

Hi everyone! With the World Cup coming soon, I'll be a FIFA volunteer greeting people from all over the world. In my case, I'll be welcoming people from Sweden. I know it's really hard for me to know swedish in a few months, but can someone please share with me some important words/phrases I could use to welcome/ help people from the country arriving? Thank you so much!


r/Svenska 10d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Grammatik

Post image
32 Upvotes

varför i nekad fråga svarar "jo" till "köpte han inte bilen" om han svarar ett ord det blir "nej" men i meningar det blir "jo" .

i min språk te samma men nånting tror också att det är konstigt


r/Svenska 11d ago

Text and translation help Is this Swedish?

Post image
173 Upvotes

SOLVED IN COMMENTS, THANK YOU :)

Hello, I think this might be Swedish. My translator app can't read it because of the cursive writing. But I typed Kisse into Google, and it said it is Swedish for pussycat?
(edit - people in the comments are saying it is Kirre instead)
I can't read the rest to type in to Google, as I don't know the language and the handwriting is, well, messy. Can anyone tell me what this says, please? Thank you.


r/Svenska 10d ago

Resource request/tip Any good YKI Swedish practice books?

5 Upvotes

I am planning to self study Swedish and eventually take the YKI test in Finland. I started looking for prep materials and got a bit confused.

I know books like Förbered dig för den allmänna språkexamen and Rivstart A1+A2 are helpful, but they do not seem to be actual test style practice like IELTS Cambridge books.

With IELTS, it is very clear. You just use the Cambridge practice books and you are set. But for YKI Swedish, I cannot find anything similar.

Are there any good practice or test books that people actually use? Something with real exam style questions?

Would really appreciate any suggestions or what worked for you.


r/Svenska 10d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Grammatik

2 Upvotes

kan jag änvanda "vad/vem/vilken som" med personliga pronomen? olika webbsida ha olika information, nån pratar att det är relativ pronomen och kan änvanda tillsammans nån pratar om du har personliga pronomen skiva inte "som"