Pronouns and possession · Swedish grammar A1

Object pronouns: mig, dig, honom, henne, oss, er, dem#

Formation

A pronoun that is the object of a verb or follows a preposition takes the object form. Hen, den and det have the same form as subject and object.

Subject	Object	Subject	Object
jag	mig (me)	vi	oss (us)
du	dig (you)	ni	er (you)
han	honom (him)	de	dem (them)
hon	henne (her)	den	den (it)
hen	hen	det	det (it)

Pronunciation

Mig and dig are pronounced mej and dej, and de and dem are both pronounced dom in everyday speech; the spelling distinguishes them.

Use

The object form is used after a verb (Jag ser henne) and after a preposition (med mig, till honom, hos oss).

Johan älskar henne.Johan loves her.
Kan du hjälpa mig?Can you help me?
Vi träffar dem i kväll.We’re meeting them tonight.
Kom till oss på lördag!Come to our place on Saturday!
Karin bor hos honom.Karin is staying with him.

Difference from English

The system is the English one: “I – me”, “he – him”, “they – them”. Two differences: English “you” has one form, Swedish has du – dig and ni – er; and English “it” is den or det by gender.

Common mistakes

~~Hon ringer han.~~ → Hon ringer honom.The object is in the object form.
~~De ringer till de.~~ → De ringer till dem.After a preposition, “them” is dem, though pronounced like de.

Practise

“Pronouns and possession: mig, honom, min, vår, någon, som”, Saying me, you, him and her as the object: mig, dig, honom, henne, hen “Pronouns and possession: mig, honom, min, vår, någon, som”, Saying it, us, you and them, and where inte goes: den, det, oss, er, dem

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An object pronoun before inte: Jag känner honom inte#

Use

An unstressed object pronoun usually comes before inte and the other sentence adverbs, when the finite verb is the only verb: Vi känner honom inte (“We don’t know him”), Erik känner dem inte. A noun object comes after inte: Jag ser inte bilen. When there is an infinitive or a supinum, the pronoun comes after it: Jag kan inte se dem. The rule is met at A1 with the commonest verbs, ser, känner, förstår, hör.

Object	Example
noun	Jag förstår inte läraren.
pronoun	Jag förstår henne inte.
pronoun after an infinitive	Jag kan inte förstå henne.

Jag hör dig inte.I can’t hear you.
Vi ser henne inte.We can’t see her.
Erik förstår inte frågan.Erik doesn’t understand the question.
Jag vill inte se dem.I don’t want to see them.

Difference from English

English places “not” before the verb and the object after it: “I don’t know him”. In Swedish the short pronoun comes between the verb and inte: Vi känner honom inte.

Common mistake

~~Jag ser inte den.~~ → Jag ser den inte.An unstressed pronoun comes before inte.

Practise

“Pronouns and possession: mig, honom, min, vår, någon, som”, Saying it, us, you and them, and where inte goes: den, det, oss, er, dem

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Possessives: min, mitt, mina, hans, hennes, vår, deras#

Formation

Min (my), din (your, one person), vår (our) and er (your, several people) agree with the noun that follows, in gender and number. Hans (his), hennes (her), dess (its) and deras (their) never change. The noun after a possessive has no definite ending.

	en-word	ett-word	plural
my	min	mitt	mina
your (one person)	din	ditt	dina
our	vår	vårt	våra
your (several)	er	ert	era
his	hans	hans	hans
her	hennes	hennes	hennes
its	dess	dess	dess
their	deras	deras	deras

Use

The form of min, din, vår, er depends on the thing owned, not on the owner: min bil, mitt hus, mina barn. Hans refers to a man as owner, hennes to a woman. Dess is used mostly in writing. A named owner takes the genitive in -s, as The genitive: Annas bok, Sveriges huvudstad sets out.

Det här är mitt rum.This is my room.
Var är dina skor?Where are your shoes?
Hennes bror bor i Umeå.Her brother lives in Umeå.
Vårt kök är litet.Our kitchen is small.
Är det era väskor?Are those your bags?
Deras hund heter Bosse.Their dog is called Bosse.

Difference from English

English “my”, “your” and “our” never change; Swedish min, din, vår and er take -tt or -t before an ett-word and -a before a plural. English “her” is the possessive and the object form; Swedish has hennes (possessive) and henne (object).

Common mistakes

~~min rum~~ → mitt rumRum is an ett-word.
~~min bilen~~ → min bilAfter a possessive the noun has no definite ending.
~~henne bil~~ → hennes bilThe possessive is hennes.

Practise

“Pronouns and possession: mig, honom, min, vår, någon, som”, Saying my and your: min, mitt, mina, din, ditt, dina “Pronouns and possession: mig, honom, min, vår, någon, som”, Saying his, her, our, your and their: hans, hennes, vår, er, deras

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Some and none: någon, något, några, ingen, inget, inga#

Formation

Någon (some, any) and ingen (no) agree with the noun, like min.

	en-word	ett-word	plural
some, any	någon	något	några
no	ingen	inget	inga

Use

Någon, något, några are used in questions and in negative sentences, as English “any”, and for “some” in the plural: Har du några frågor? Ingen, inget, inga express “no”, “not any”: Vi har inga barn. Inte någon has the same meaning as ingen and is often used in speech: Vi har inte någon hund = Vi har ingen hund. Without a noun, någon means “someone, anyone” and ingen “no one”; något means “something” and inget “nothing”.

Finns det någon bank här?Is there a bank here?
Har ni några barn?Do you have any children?
Jag har inga pengar.I have no money.
Det finns inget bröd.There’s no bread.
Det är ingen hemma.There’s no one at home.

Difference from English

English uses “some” in a statement and “any” in a question or a negative sentence; Swedish uses någon for both “some” and “any”, in the form that agrees with the gender and number of the noun.

Common mistakes

~~Vi har inte ingen hund.~~ → Vi har ingen hund. (or: Vi har inte någon hund.)Inte and ingen are not combined.
~~Har du något frågor?~~ → Har du några frågor?Before a plural noun the form is några.

Practise

“Pronouns and possession: mig, honom, min, vår, någon, som”, Saying some and none: någon, något, några, ingen, inget, inga

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The relative pronoun som: en vän som bor i Lund#

Formation

The relative pronoun som (who, which, that) introduces a clause that describes the noun before it, a person, an animal or a thing alike. When som is the subject of that clause, it is followed directly by the verb and cannot be left out.

Jag har en vän som bor i Lund.I have a friend who lives in Lund.
Det är en buss som går till stationen.It’s a bus that goes to the station.
Mannen som sitter där heter Johan.The man who is sitting there is called Johan.
Vi har en katt som sover hela dagen.We have a cat that sleeps all day.

Difference from English

English distinguishes “who” for people from “which” for things; Swedish has one word, som, for both. The question words vem and vad are not used as relative pronouns.

Common mistakes

~~en kvinna vem arbetar här~~ → en kvinna som arbetar härThe relative pronoun is som.
~~en man bor i Umeå~~ → en man som bor i UmeåSom as the subject is not left out.

Practise

“Pronouns and possession: mig, honom, min, vår, någon, som”, Saying who or which: som

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Quantities: mycket, många, lite, en kopp kaffe#

Use

Mycket (much, a lot of) and lite (a little) are used with an uncountable noun: mycket kaffe, lite socker. Många (many) is used with a plural noun: många vänner. Pengar (money) is plural in form but takes mycket: mycket pengar. In questions these words follow hur: Hur mycket kostar det?, Hur många är ni? A quantity of food or drink is named by the container or the measure followed by the noun, with no word for “of”: en kopp kaffe, ett glas vatten, en tallrik soppa.

Noun	Much / many	A little
uncountable	mycket mjölk	lite mjölk
plural	många äpplen	–

Jag dricker mycket te.I drink a lot of tea.
Johan har många vänner i Umeå.Johan has many friends in Umeå.
Vill du ha lite mjölk?Would you like a little milk?
Ett glas vatten, tack.A glass of water, please.

Difference from English

English joins a measure and a noun with “of”: “a cup of coffee”. Swedish places the two nouns side by side: en kopp kaffe.

Common mistakes

~~en kopp av kaffe~~ → en kopp kaffeNo word for “of” stands between the measure and the noun.
~~mycket katter~~ → många katterA plural noun takes många.

In short

Point	Form	Example
object pronouns	mig, dig, honom, henne, hen, den, det, oss, er, dem	Hon ringer mig.
pronoun before inte	verb + pronoun + inte	Vi känner honom inte.
possessives	min / mitt / mina; hans, hennes, deras unchanged	mitt rum, hennes bil
some, no	någon / något / några; ingen / inget / inga	Vi har inga barn.
relative	som, for people and things	en vän som bor här
quantities	mycket, lite (uncountable), många (plural); no “of”	en kopp kaffe

Practise

“Pronouns and possession: mig, honom, min, vår, någon, som”, Saying how much and how many: mycket, många, lite, en kopp kaffe

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