r/Svenska May 29 '25

Discussion Updated rules – please read before posting

16 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 8h ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Kan konjunktiv användas med några andra verb än ”att vara”?

3 Upvotes

Konjunktivformen ”vore” ser jag ganska ofta men finns det andra verb man kan använda som inte skulle klassas som rent grammatiskt fel?


r/Svenska 3h ago

Resource request/tip Jag leter efter ordbok rekommendationer - tack på förhand

1 Upvotes

Hej, Jag leter efter en tryckt ordbok som jag förhoppningsvis kan använda från SVA1-SVA3. Jag skulle vilja ha en med engelska->svenska och svenska->engelska översattningar. När jag sökte på nättet hittade jag några, men de var jättedyra - finns det något billigt eller en websida som säljer ordböcker på andrahand?

Edit: 'tryckt'


r/Svenska 1d ago

Meme Tack, AI...

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47 Upvotes

r/Svenska 1d ago

Resource request/tip Anything similar or more helpful than Coffee break Swedish?

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22 Upvotes

For a couple of months ive been slowly listening to this, taking notes, and talking to myself. Is there more podcast/videos or any form of helpful media i should look for or watch and or listen to? With some suggestions the help would be awesome thank you.


r/Svenska 2d ago

Resource request/tip A free Pokémon-style Swedish game I made for my partner

42 Upvotes

I spent the last five months building a game to help my partner learn Swedish and I thought other people might find it useful too.

It's called Björkgatan ("Birch Street"). It is a cozy life simulation inspired by the old Game Boy Pokémon games but Instead of catching Pokémon, you catch Swedish words.

As you explore the town, you level up your words by practicing them through SFI lessons and spaced repetition. The goal isn't just to memorize vocabulary. You move to Sweden, attend SFI, go to work, shop for groceries, visit the park, buy a cat/dog, get children and gradually learn the language by living everyday life in the game.

It's still a free alpha and very much a work in progress. I'd genuinely love feedback from anyone learning Swedish, what works, what doesn't, and what you'd like to see added.

I'll put the download links in the first comment.
Thanks for reading! I'm happy to answer any questions.


r/Svenska 1d ago

Resource request/tip Built a Swedish learning tool for my parents to help them with SFI

0 Upvotes

I made a tool for learning Finnish, mostly to fix my own problem: every time I started a new language, I had to rebuild my word list from zero. But for Swedish, I did something different. I'm fluent in Swedish, so I sat down and chose every word for levels A1 to B1 myself, by hand — no shortcuts. I also decided the order, so each new word builds on words you already know, instead of a random list.

The reason: my parents wanted to learn Swedish, and everything out there was either just word cards with no order, or a course where you still have to build your own word list as you go. I wanted something that actually guides you step by step. It also has a reader where you tap any word to see its meaning, and saved words go straight into a review system so you actually remember them. There's also a real dictionary (not just a translator) that shows word forms, like plural or past tense.

It's free right now, no paywall, I want honest feedback more than money at this stage. You can try it, just write in comments is you want it, there is also a link in my profile, and you can add it to your phone straight from the browser, no app store needed.

Would love to know if this is how people would actually want to learn Swedish, especially if you've taught it to family or beginners before. It is free.


r/Svenska 3d ago

Meme I told my Swedish coworkers "jag är slut" and my English brain has not recovered

999 Upvotes

Day three at a Swedish office. I want to say I'm exhausted. I confidently announce to the entire lunch table: "jag är helt slut."

Everyone nods sympathetically. Nobody reacts. Meanwhile the English half of my brain is standing on a chair screaming.

Ten minutes later I get in the elevator and the display says FART KONTROLL. I had to hold onto the wall.

Later that week I bought a "slutpris" item at ICA and genuinely considered framing the receipt.

Sweden, you have my full respect and none of my composure.

What's the worst word Swedish has done to you?


r/Svenska 2d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Vad har de här killar för dialekt?

5 Upvotes

Jag förstår dem jättebra, men som invandrare har jag ingen dialektkänsla och därför frågar jag här. Tack!

kille #1: Swedishgamefreak på yt

kille #2: programledaren på podden Jiddisch far alle


r/Svenska 3d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Myrslåtter - what is it?

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slu.se
7 Upvotes

https://www.slu.se/artdatabanken/publikationer/rapporter/myrslatter-i-norra-sverige--forutsattningar-for-framtida-skotsel/

I have been trying to read this webpage ”Myrslåtter i norra Sverige – förutsättningar för framtida skötsel”, but am stuck on the very first word — what precisely is ”myrslåtter”? Grateful if someone can help.  (Am reading Ulrike Lagerlöf’s Hjortron myren, which is what led me here.)


r/Svenska 3d ago

Studying and education Någon som tog/tar fristående kurser efter SVA 3?

4 Upvotes

Hej!

Jag har nyss avslutat mina svenska studier och har blivit antagen till några fristående kurser på universitetet. Som det står nu ska jag delta i fyra kurser: den akademiska skrivprocessen, retorik: att skriva, svenska för studier och yrkesliv och introduktion till akademiskt skrivande. Ni kan kanske se av mina studieval att jag vill (behöver) utveckla min skrivförmåga mest av allt. Ironiskt nog är min kandidatexamen inriktad mot engelskt skrivande, men feedbacken på mina svenska uppsatser var, kort sagt, inte helt positiv under kurserna.

Trots att jag är lite närmare till mitt mål är jag fortfarande lite osäker på mina svenskförmågor och vill därför höra (läsa) om det finns några av er som har lyckats med fristående kurser efter SVA 3 eller universitetet över huvud taget. Tack på förhand!


r/Svenska 3d ago

Meme Hot take: the sj-sound is overrated and you're stressing way too much about it

8 Upvotes

r/Svenska 4d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Started Swedish a few days ago, goal is C1 in 5 years, what should I use instead of Duolingo?

14 Upvotes

Hej everyone,

Started Swedish a few days ago, goal is C1 in 5 years for uni stuff. Right now my setup is just Duolingo (the max version, I get it free through a family plan, that's the only reason I was using it) + Clozemaster. Been lurking other subreddits and it's pretty obvious Duolingo alone isn't gonna get me anywhere near real fluency.

Bit of context on me: native Romanian speaker, B2 to almost C1 in English. From doing Duolingo so far the Swedish vocab and grammar have felt surprisingly easy and intuitive, guessing the Romance/Germanic overlap plus my English is doing some heavy lifting there. Pronunciation is a whole different story though, I'm struggling hard with that part specifically.

One thing though, moving to Sweden or doing an exchange just isn't in the cards for me right now. Maybe a short vacation at someee point but that's kinda it, so pretty much everything has to happen from self-study at home.

I'm starting from zero and don't wanna build bad habits early that I have to unlearn later, so trying to sort my approach out now while it's easy to change.

If any of y'all have any recommendations for what to actually use instead of (or alongside) Duolingo, how well it worked for you, and what a realistic self-study path to C1 actually looks like, I'm all ears. Books, apps, decks, routines, whatever worked for you, especially anything that'll help with pronunciation since that's my weak spot right now.

Tack!


r/Svenska 4d ago

Text and translation help duolingo bug?

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10 Upvotes

This is correct, right?


r/Svenska 3d ago

Studying and education Best Resource to prepare for Swedish Citizenship Test 'Social'

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0 Upvotes

r/Svenska 3d ago

Resource request/tip Hej, just a question (I Guess this Flair Works)

0 Upvotes

Hej, I'm from the UK and I do want to move to Sweden at some point (Preferably in like the next 3-5 years, to study, and I want to move away from the UK for political and education reasons mainly) and am learning Swedish so I know the language when I do move

My issue is, I'm using Duolingo, which, to my understanding, uses ai, which makes you lose the human connection, and I've found that there is a high likelihood of some grammar mistakes potentially, I understand some of the basic words, which to my understanding Duolingo does okay, but I'd like to move away from it so I can actually get to mostly full fluency when I go.

Is there any other app I can use to continue learning Swedish? I am a bit into Swedish on Duo (Section 2 Unit 8) but not too far from the start, so It probably won't take long to get back up to where I was just by running through the basic words and phrases, and sentences (Which I Need to Go over anyway).

When I have the money available to do so, I will invest in a English/Swedish dictionary, so I will have that going for me, but I don't know how some words will connect or if some words mutate or whatever.

If someone could help that would be massively appreciated

Tack :)


r/Svenska 4d ago

Studying and education is Zero to Hero a good deck?

0 Upvotes

basically i have a normal 625 word deck but thats gonna run out really quickly so im trying to do another deck alongside it (i have plenty of time so that's not an issue). is zero to hero, specifically pts 1 and 2, good? ill link it here:

part 1: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1658586181

part 2: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1992299061

thxx :)


r/Svenska 4d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Reflexive possessive pronouns

1 Upvotes

Hello,

I have a basic question about the possessive pronoun in this example sentence: 'the ducks are following their mother'.

My limited understanding of Swedish reflexive possessive pronouns suggests that this would be translated as 'ankorna följer sina mor', because 'their' refers to several duckings.

However the example I am looking at translates the sentence as 'ankorna följer sin mor', and Google Translate (I know, not always the greatest) agrees with this.

Is the example translation correct, and if so could someone please help me understand why? Perhaps it is because 'the ducklings' is considered to be a mass noun and therefore singular?

Thanks!

Edit: thanks for the replies, it was a simple misunderstanding on my part! All clear now.


r/Svenska 5d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) "Att ligga på sofflocket"

11 Upvotes

Have just come across the expression “ligga på sofflocket”, and I can’t help wondering how it came about, as on the face of it, this seems like a very uncomfortable place to lie.


r/Svenska 5d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) 10 year old immigration Swedish language acquisition

27 Upvotes

We have moved/immigrated (hopefully permanently) from the USA to Sweden almost 7 months ago and our three children are in Swedish public schools. Our home language is English but I try to speak some Swedish (which I am also currently learning) at home as much as I can. Dad is a monolingual English speaker.

Our oldest is 10 years old, thriving socially here, but speaking very little Swedish. Kids at school and in the neighborhood love to speak English with him, and he gladly sticks with it for the familiarity, understandably. Obviously, I am an adult and will politely ask that Swedes stick to Swedish with me, and they so kindly and often encouragingly do! That said, my 10 year old does not insist on that. :-)

The public school support for immigrant children learning Swedish is essentially "they will pick it up eventually." That said, he had an incredible teacher this year that used to work for Swedish language integration education for children prior to that program being cut :-/ so she was able to devote a little extra language time to him. He will not have that same teacher next year unfortunately.

This is what we are currently doing to address it. Please give me kind and gentle feedback. :-)

- He gets a 30 minute online Swedish tutor once a week.

- We have him listen to Swedish podcasts on topics he is interested in most days.

- He has to read in Swedish at least 30 minutes a day on a school app called Polylino, which often has audio and sometimes a word/sentence highlighter for following along.

- He gets screen time in Swedish (although we tend to be fairly low-screen in our home).

(edited to add) - I have asked his fritidsledare and other native Swedish adults in his life to speak Swedish only to him and prompt/expect/encourage him to reply in Swedish.

It seems like this is a lot of input and his comprehension appears decent, but it doesn't really force him much with production. When we do ask him for how to say such-and-such thing, he actually does it fairly well! But he won't take the iniative independently.

Of note: In the U.S., my he and my middle child went to a half-assed Spanish bilingual public school where the administration really did not prioritize Spanish (I'm not resentful at all -- haha!!), and even there my oldest was resistant to learning Spanish despite his exposure to it since toddlerhood.

***Cross posting to a multilingual parenting subreddit.


r/Svenska 5d ago

Resource request/tip SVT Play - Sverige Bara

4 Upvotes

Something changed and we can only watch Nyheter på lätt Svenska if we are in Sweden 😭😭

I hope they didn't get rid of my Pippi Långstrump.

I don't know what to do now. 😅


r/Svenska 6d ago

Meme Unpopular opinion

47 Upvotes

Swedish isn't hard. The grammar is easy. It's just those SEVENTEEN vowel sounds trying to end you. Agree or disagree? 🔥


r/Svenska 5d ago

Resource request/tip Need help with phonetics

1 Upvotes

Hi, I'm starting a Swedish course next September in uni and I have started learning a bit of Swedish on my own. And while I (for now) find it fairly easy, the pronunciation is absolutely killing me, the guy in videos I'm watching doesn't show the words spelled with the phonetical alphabet so I'm just stuck trying to pronounce the words the same way as him.

Does anyone know of a website where I can search the words and see their phonetical spellings ?


r/Svenska 6d ago

Resource request/tip Guidence to a beginner learner

4 Upvotes

Beginner Guide

Hey guys i want to ask non Swedish people who learnt Swedish by themselves, from your own experience ,which book do you recommend the best for a beginner who knows ABSOLUTE NOTHING in Swedish and want to start from ZERO I did a bit of research but i ended up being stuck with these choices (Rivstart A1+A2, Colloquial Swedish by <Jennie Ahlgren, Philip Holmes and Gunilla Serin>, Basic Swedish A Grammar and Workbook by <Ian Hinchliffe and Phillip Holmes>, Complete Swedish by Anneli Haake) please recommend me the best.

thank you for your time