Grammar 8: Plurals and Countable Nouns – Pluralformer och räknebara substantiv

 

Lesson 8: Plurals and Countable Nouns – Pluralformer och räknebara substantiv

Lesson Objectives:

• Learn how to form plural nouns in Swedish.
• Understand countable vs. uncountable nouns.
• Practice making sentences using plural forms.
• Know the common plural endings and patterns.

What Is a Plural Noun?

Just like in English, plural nouns in Swedish refer to more than one person, object, animal, etc.

English	Swedish (singular)	Swedish (plural)
apple	ett äpple	äpplen
dog	en hund	hundar
house	ett hus	hus

Swedish Plural Patterns

Swedish has five main plural forms. The form depends on whether the noun is en-word or ett-word.

Common Plural Endings and Examples

Group	Rule	Example (Singular)	Plural
-or	Mostly for en-words ending in -a	en flicka (girl)	flickor
-ar	En-words not ending in -a	en pojke (boy)	pojkar
-er	En-words, often borrowed or irregular	en telefon (phone)	telefoner
-n	Most ett-words ending in a vowel	ett äpple (apple)	äpplen
no ending	Most ett-words ending in consonants	ett hus (house)	hus

Some Irregular Plurals

Singular	Plural
en man (man)	män
en bok (book)	böcker
ett barn (child)	barn
en tand (tooth)	tänder
en mus (mouse)	möss

Definite Plural Forms

To make plural nouns definite, add a suffix:

Indefinite Plural	Definite Plural
flickor	flickorna (the girls)
hus	husen (the houses)
böcker	böckerna (the books)

Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns

• Countable nouns: can be counted (e.g., äpplen – apples, stolar – chairs)
• Uncountable nouns: mass nouns that don't usually have plural (e.g., vatten – water, mjölk – milk)

🔸 Examples:

• Jag köpte två bananer. (I bought two bananas.)
• Vi behöver vatten. (We need water.)

Useful Sentence Patterns

• Jag har två katter. (I have two cats.)
• Hur många barn har du? (How many children do you have?)
• Böckerna är på bordet. (The books are on the table.)

Practice Sentences – Fill in the Plural

1. en stol → två ______
2. ett bord → flera ______
3. en bok → många ______
4. en flicka → två ______
5. ett barn → tre ______

✅ Answers:

1. stolar
2. bord
3. böcker
4. flickor
5. barn