Nouns / Substantiv

Introduction to Nouns from Duolingo :
http://learn-swedish-language.blogspot.se/2017/04/introduction-to-nouns-from-duolingo.html


Everything about nouns :
https://learningswedish.se/courses/1/pages/nouns



Träna substantiv:
http://www.asinger.net/newwebsiteimages/substantiv_boende.pdf
http://www.asinger.net/newwebsiteimages/substantiv_boende.pdf


Annas blog:
http://annasfi.blogspot.se/p/substantiv.html


Nouns / Substantiv

A noun is a thing or an idea. If you can write "the" and "a/an" in front of it, then it's a noun. In English, each noun has 2 forms: singular and plural. On rare occasions, these forms are exactly the same (for example, "sheep" and "fish"). In Swedish, each noun has 4 different forms: 2 singular forms and 2 plural forms. For each of these forms, there is one indefinite and one definite form. In fact, we have the same thing in English with the words "a/an" and "the". Indefinite nouns start with "a/an" and definite nouns start with "the".

In Swedish, this is a little trickier to determine, because, like many, many other languages, there are noun genders. There are 2 genders, "common" and "neuter". There are far more "common" nouns than "neuter" nouns, but when you learn a new noun, learn it's gender too. How can you tell what gender it is? This is very easy: a "common" noun's indefinite article is "en", and a "neuter" noun's indefinite aricle is "ett". In English, we only have one "a" or "an", and this choice depends on the sound of the first syllable of the noun (of course, you already knew that!).

In English, our definite article is always the same "the", but in Swedish, there isn't one. Instead they add a suffix onto the end of the noun. The choice of suffix is, again, tricky. Before we get into all that, we need to understand something called "noun declension". "Noun declension" is the modification of a word, based on singular vs. plural, grammatical case and noun gender.

Let's start with grammatical cases. There are only two cases in Swedish: "nominative" and "genitive", which are similar to English. The genitive case is the form of the word that indicatives who is the owner of the noun. In English we add "'s" to the possessor, such as "Mark's car", and in Swedish, an "s" is added to the possessor (note: if the noun already ends in "s", there is no change!). The nominitive case is used for everything else.

So, back to declensions. There are 5 declension groups in Swedish, and it's vital to know which group a noun falls under, in order to decline it correctly. The first 3 groups are for the "common" gender, and the last 2 are for the "neuter" gender. So here are the basic rules:

Declension Group 1
This group is for "common" gender nouns that end in the vowel "a".

Indefinite Singular: write "en" in front of it.
Definite Singular: add an "n" suffix to the noun.
Indefinite Plural: drop the end vowel, and add an "-or" suffix to the noun.
Definite Plural: drop the end vowel, and add an "-orna" suffix to the noun.
Declension of lampa
Singular
Plural
indefinite
definite
indefinite
definite
Nominitive
ett lampa
lampan
lampor
lamporna
Genitive
ett lampas
lampans
lampors
lampornas

Declension Group 2
This group is for "common" gender nouns that either have one syllable, or end in an unstressed -e, -el, -en, -er or -on.

Indefinite Singular: write "en" in front of it.
Definite Singular: add an "-en" suffix to the noun.
Indefinite Plural: add an "-ar" suffix to the noun. If the noun already ends in "ar", "er" or "or", drop the vowel first.
Definite Plural: Follow the same rule as the indefinite plural, but the suffix is "-arna".
Declension of bil
Singular
Plural
indefinite
definite
indefinite
definite
Nominitive
en bil
bilen
bilar
bilarna
Genitive
en bils
bilens
bilars
bilarnas

Declension of morgon
Singular
Plural
indefinite
definite
indefinite
definite
Nominitive
en morgon
morgonen
morgnar
morgnarna
Genitive
en morgons
morgonens
morgnars
morgnarnas

Declension Group 3
This group is for "common" gender nouns that are borrowed from other languages. They're usually borrowed from English or German.

Indefinite Singular: write "en" in front of it.
Definite Singular: add an "-en" suffix to the noun. If the ending is "ar", "er", or "or", drop then add "-n" only.
Indefinite Plural: add an "-er" suffix to the noun. It's also common for some of the words to change their first vowel in their plural forms, to one with an umlaut, for example "a" -> "ä" and "o" to "ö".
Definite Plural: Follow the same rule as the indefinite plural, but the suffix is "-erna".
Declension of familj
Singular
Plural
indefinite
definite
indefinite
definite
Nominitive
en familj
familjen
familjer
familjerna
Genitive
en familjs
familjens
familjers
familjernas

Declension of hand
Singular
Plural
indefinite
definite
indefinite
definite
Nominitive
en hand
handen
händer
händerna
Genitive
en hands
handens
händers
händernas

Declension Group 4
This group is for "neuter" gender nouns that end in a vowel.

Indefinite Singular: write "ett" in front of it.
Definite Singular: add an "t" suffix to the noun.
Indefinite Plural: add an "n" suffix to the noun.
Definite Plural: add an "na" suffix to the noun.
Declension of äpple
Singular
Plural
indefinite
definite
indefinite
definite
Nominitive
ett äpple
äpplet
äpplen
äpplena
Genitive
ett äpples
äpplets
äpplens
äpplenas

Declension Group 5
This group is for "neuter" gender nouns that end in a consonant.

Indefinite Singular: write "ett" in front of it.
Definite Singular: add an "et" suffix to the noun.
Indefinite Plural: do nothing!
Definite Plural: add an "en" suffix to the noun.
Declension of bord
Singular
Plural
indefinite
definite
indefinite
definite
Nominitive
ett bord
bordet
bord
borden
Genitive
ett bords
bordets
bords
bordens

Can you decline these nouns?
1. en docka - a doll
2. en stol - a chair
3. en dator - a computer
4. en säng - a bed
5. en tröja - a shirt
6. en ost - a cheese
7. ett tak - a roof
8. ett träd - a tree
9. en bok (this word means both "beech" and "book", and falls under 2 different declension groups - can you guess which?)
10. en väska - a bag
11. ett ben - a leg
12. en hylla - a shelf
13. ett frimärke - a stamp


Det finns 5 olika regler för hur substantiven ändras.
Grupp 1
En ord, slutar på –a i singular obestämd form
singular obestämd form
Plural
obestämd form
Singular
bestämd form

Plural
bestämd form

+or
+n
+na
En trappa
trappor
trappan
trapporna
En tavla
tavlor
tavlan
tavlorna

 Grupp 2
En ord, slutar inte på –a i singular obestämd form
singular obestämd form
Plural
obestämd form
Singular
bestämd form

Plural
bestämd form

+ar
+en
+na
En stol
stolar
stolen
Stolarna
En ugn
Ugnar
Ugnen
ugnarna

Grupp 3
En ord, slutar inte på –a i singular obestämd form.
Har ofta betoning på sista stavelsen. Många utländska ord.
singular obestämd form
Plural
obestämd form
Singular
bestämd form

Plural
bestämd form

+er
+en
+na
En garderob
garderober
garderoben
garderoberna
En byrå
byråer
Byrån (inte e)
byråerna

Grupp 4
Ett ord, slutar på vokal
singular obestämd form
Plural
obestämd form
Singular
bestämd form

Plural
bestämd form

+n
+t
+na
Ett samhälle
samhällen
samhället
samhällena

Grupp 5
Ett ord, slutar på konsonant
singular obestämd form
Plural
obestämd form
Singular
bestämd form

Plural
bestämd form

-
+et
+en
Ett bord
bord
bordet
borden
Ett fönster
fönster
fönstret (er–re)
Fönstren
Ett rum
rum
rummet
rummen

Undantag:
En-ord som slutar på -are. De heter samma i singular och plural (en lärare, två lärare)