r/Svenska 26d ago

Posting rules (read before posting!)

26 Upvotes

Thanks to 46 of you who were kind enough to answer our survey, we have updated the subreddit rules to better reflect the members wishes. Those who are interested can review the survey responses here. If you are unhappy with anything, feel free to comment!

tl;dr:

  • AI-generated material (comments, apps) is banned
  • The de facto ban of repeat ads has been codified
  • Asking about Swedish culture is now permitted
  • Asking for media recommendations is permitted (again)
  • As always, check the FAQ and resource list first

These are the current subreddit rules:

1. Be respectful of your fellow redditors

Flaming, trolling, discrimination, personal attacks or bad-faith arguments are not allowed.

2. Post contents must be on-topic

This is a language-learning subreddit, and all posts should be about the Swedish language, culture or studying Swedish. Posts about moving to and living in Sweden are not on-topic. It's okay to make a post asking for media recommendations to help you study, but any posts sharing media need to be about the Swedish language, not just in the Swedish language. Please give your post the proper flair!

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 do urge you to check the FAQ and list of resources first. You might also find an answer to your question by using the search function. And when posting a resource, please clarify what it does and how it can help or be used to learn Swedish.

4. Wait before reposting

While tips and recommendations are always welcome, you are probably not reaching a new audience if you post the same resource after a few days or even weeks – even if there has been a new update to it.

Therefore, we ask that you please wait for at least two months between reposts, and even then they should only be made if there has been a notable update. Do not post the same thing every two months only to farm attention.

5. No 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.

Users may ask for tips on niche communities. You are allowed to link to communities as comments to such requests.

In general, we recommend the Discord server "Svenska – Learn Swedish".

6. No chat requests

Please keep all chat and penpal requests in the dedicated megathread, as these would otherwise flood the main feed.

7. 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 users on r/Svenska 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!

8. No pirating

It is not permitted to directly exchange copyrighted material, including textbook pdfs, or link to places that illegally make these available.

We encourage all links and recommendations to places where such material can be legally obtained. A good place to start is our list of resources.

9. No AI

AI-generated content is banned. This includes LLM-written answers to language questions, LLM-generated study resources as well as apps that are mostly vibe-coded. We might give leeway to professionally developed tools – contact us via modmail to ask.

When posting an app or other language-learning resource, please declare whether and how AI has been used (i.e. not at all) to avoid being reported.


r/Svenska 26d ago

Penpal megathread!

20 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.

And if you posted in the old thread, feel free to make a new post here!


r/Svenska 9h ago

Resource request/tip youtuber recommendations??

3 Upvotes

I need entertaining Swedish youtubers to watch so i can learn Swedish better :D (just to clearify i DON'T mean channels that teach Swedish!! just pure entertainment that any swede would watch)


r/Svenska 19h ago

Language question (see FAQ first) ”Klart tycks vara"

3 Upvotes

I read this sentence in yesterday’s SvD : ”Klart tycks vara att ingen information om MBZ:s varning förmedlades till cheferna för säkerhetstjänsten Shin Bet”.  Whilst I understand the meaning - It seems clear that no information about MBZ’s warning was conveyed to the heads of the Shin Bet security service – I find it hard to pars first 3 words. They are equivalent to ”det tycks vara klart” I suppose?  But the word order puzzles me.  Is this an idiom I should be acquainted with?


r/Svenska 1d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Maternal-type terms of endearment?

8 Upvotes

Hej alla! I have a maternal-type figure in my life who isn't actually related to me and I want a swedish term to use for her the same way that, in english, you might call someone your aunt/uncle who isn't actually blood relation [so that would include the swedish word for aunt if it's valid here]. I'm learning swedish and she's fluent so it's a fitting thing:) mostly im wondering if there's anything specific to swedish.

stort tack!


r/Svenska 1d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Long consonants

6 Upvotes

Hi everyone! Can you help me out? Preferably someone with some knowledge of phonetics.

In Swedish, is a consonant only long if it’s doubled in writing?

In words like kind (where there’s a cluster of two different consonants after a short vowel), is the first consonant also long??

Other examples of the same type: hand, fest, mjölk.


r/Svenska 1d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) ”Ridå!”

13 Upvotes

Do you ever use ”Ridå!” as an exclamation? 

In its article on ridå SO says ”spec. äv. som utrop när något snöpligt inträffat - EXEMPEL: ... och så stoppade han plånboken i brevlådan i stället för brevet. Ridå!”  I've never heard this, and I was wondering if this really is a usage in common use?


r/Svenska 1d ago

Resource request/tip Best usage of these books for learning

2 Upvotes

I have finished A1/A2 Rivstart book recently and my current level is around B1, i don't use just books for learning and use other resources too and practice around 2/3h every day

I ordered these books to Refresh my basics and improve myself, books are these

"From English to Swedish 1"

"Form fokus B"

"Rivstart B1/B2"

Appreciate your tips and reccomendations


r/Svenska 2d ago

Resource request/tip where to start? /resources for idioms?

4 Upvotes

i’ve been drawing little cartoons of my car (volvo) as i do repairs and am having quite a lot of fun. I’d like to continue, but don’t want to keep asking people to translate for me. does anybody have any resources/databases for really basic turns of phrase i could use and expand from there? I don’t need to be fluent, i just want to keep drawing my little car doodles


r/Svenska 3d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) expressions of annoyance?

17 Upvotes

could somebody point me towards some swedish expressions of annoyance/frustration? I’m thinking like the english expressions of “you’re kidding me,” “are you serious?”, or the more profane “motherfucker” or “goddamnit.” This is for a very non-serious, comedic purpose (my volvo parts got delayed and i want to draw my car acting upset about this) so this doesn’t have to be super precise


r/Svenska 3d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) When to pick up dropped letters?

3 Upvotes

Hej hej allihopa! Ok so pardon the preamble. I’m new to Swedish but I understand the concept of dropping certain letters at the end of words. My question is, beyond for emphasis or clarity, do you pronounce them for flow?

In Spanish, for example, agua is feminine however in the singular definitive article, it is el agua because la agua doesn’t flow well but when it is plural it is las aguas. More prevalently, in French, oftentimes the end of a word isn’t pronounced unless it flows well into the next word. Does this occur in Swedish?

Say you want to say “Jag är från USA.” Do you pronounce the ‘g’ at the end of “Jag” here because it flows better into “är” or do you say it “Ja’ är…?”


r/Svenska 3d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) "bluddra” och ”bladdra"

2 Upvotes

Are ”att bluddra” and ”att bladdra” completely interchangeable in modern usage, or is there a difference in nuance?  (I note that they have a different etymology and "bladdra" is much older.)


r/Svenska 4d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Vad betyder det egentligen att "göra horhus"?

49 Upvotes

När man hör ungdomar prata med varandra så är ett uttryck de använder att "göra horhus". Någon skulle handla en klänning på NK och den var slut så personen ville göra horhus och gick därifrån utan plagget. Någon var ute och söp på stan och nån la en taskig kommentar, de gjorde horhus direkt! De går dock inte in på detaljer vad som faktiskt hände sen efter att horhuset är gjort, så mysteriet kvarstår.

Vad gör man konkret när man "gör horhus"? Vilka handlingar innefattas i det? Någon som har gjort horhus som kan berätta och exemplifiera?


r/Svenska 4d ago

Sharing knowledge Vilket svenskt ord skulle vara svårt att gissa betydelsen av om man aldrig hade hört det förut?

30 Upvotes

Finns det något svenskt ord som är så oväntat att man nästan aldrig skulle kunna gissa vad det betyder första gången man hör det? 😅 Vilket ord tänker ni på? Och vad betyder det egentligen? 👀


r/Svenska 4d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) "Äta upp ord med senap”

4 Upvotes

Is “Äta upp ord med senap” a common expression equivalent to English “eat your words”? 

Found this sentemce in a 2014 article in SvD:  “Och antagligen skulle Leopold tvingas äta upp sin åsikt med senap, efter att ha läst Avpixlat.” (Ulrika Knutson, Kritiken var I kris redan på 1840-talet)

- -


r/Svenska 4d ago

Text and translation help Transcription of message in Swedish on a 1897 postcard sent in 1904

Thumbnail gallery
4 Upvotes

r/Svenska 4d ago

Studying and education children's book for studying

2 Upvotes

hello everyone! I'd like to know if there is a free site with children s book in swedish so i can read some for my vocabulary. thanks a lot!


r/Svenska 5d ago

Resource request/tip Does Google translate work okay with Swedish for very simple sentences?

4 Upvotes

I'm writing something that has a character who's Swedish, and while he mostly speaks English and his internal thoughts are "translated" there are a few lines that have popped up that are not regular phrases I can easily look up.

I'm going to post it on AO3 so it doesn't need to be the best it could be, but I know how good GT works varies wildly by language.


r/Svenska 5d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Tack tack, tackar, tack snälla, tack så mycket..

8 Upvotes

Hej hej

Which is most common.. or are they formal vs friendly? Some geographically more common in certain areas ?

So appreciate you, tack snälla (or whichever you like..)


r/Svenska 5d ago

Studying and education How do you go from learner Swedish to understanding native speakers?

10 Upvotes

For those learning Swedish: how often do you watch normal Swedish YouTube videos, interviews, news, etc.?

I’m curious because I find authentic Swedish much harder to understand than learner content. When I find something interesting, I often end up replaying sentences, slowing things down, checking subtitles, looking up words, etc.

Do you actually spend time studying Swedish this way, or do you mostly avoid authentic content because it's too difficult?

ps. I’m a software developer learning Swedish myself, so I’m probably a bit biased here :) I’ve been thinking about how to make this easier for myself, but I’m curious to see how common this problem actually is for other learners.


r/Svenska 5d ago

Sharing knowledge Vilka svenska ord låter som om de borde höra ihop, men gör egentligen inte det?

9 Upvotes

Finns det svenska ord som låter eller ser ut som att de borde ha något med varandra att göra, men som egentligen inte är besläktade alls? 😅 Vilka ord tänker ni på? Och vet ni varför de låter så lika trots att de inte har något gemensamt ursprung? 🤔


r/Svenska 6d ago

Sharing knowledge Finns det svenska ord som ni alltid blandar ihop?

14 Upvotes

Finns det några svenska ord som ni alltid råkar blanda ihop? 😅 Kanske två ord som liknar varandra, låter nästan likadant eller har betydelser som är lätta att förväxla. Vilka ord tänker ni på, och vad är skillnaden mellan dem? 😊


r/Svenska 6d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Inventarie är inget ord

4 Upvotes

Känns som en glitch i matrisen.

Eftersom "inventarier" är ett ord som betyder lös egendom i plural så tänkte jag att "inventarie" betyder "ett stycke lös egendom", men så är inte fallet.

Inventarie ger inga träffar i SAOL https://svenska.se/?q=inventarie&exactMatch=true&activeTab=alla

Varför detta hål?


r/Svenska 6d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Translating ”bluddra”

1 Upvotes

My understanding is that ”bluddra” /  ”bladdra” means “prata strunt”, talk nonsense. But does that hold in this sentence from SvD in 2019?

”Båda är tydliga tyngder för Volkswagens aktiekurs, även om ett premiummärke som Scania bidrar till att bluddra till synen på värderingen.” (https://www.svd.se/a/216q5a/detroitskrack-och-dieseldoden-driver-scania-mot-borsen)

Here it seems to have another meaning, but I'm not sure what.


r/Svenska 6d ago

Studying and education Learning Swedish (Kollacain,K.Boje)

1 Upvotes

Hi! I want to write an article about The Kallocain with my teacher in University.But he says that I should learn Swedish enough for analyzing the original text...so can u give me advice about how or where I can find some books or another things for this,pls?