Lektion tvåLesson twoAll right, in this lesson I will try to teach you how to form plural and genitive. In the next lesson we'll move on the good stuff (i.e forming complete sentences with verbs and pronouns and such).
PluralRemember how I said that there is no way to tell whether to use
en or
ett? Well, this also goes for the plural forms. At least for two of them. Let's start by looking at the one we actually can predict.
Let's use the word
flaska (
bottle) which is a noun of the common gender (which means it takes the indefinite article
en).
Code:
Singular « Plural
Indefinite: (en) flaska « flaskor
(a) bottle « bottles
Definite : flaskan « flaskorna
the bottle « the bottles
From now on let's call this plural form the -
or form. Well then, how can we tell when to use this form? It's quite simple, actually. If the nouns ends in
a (and is of the common gender, which all nouns belonging to the -or form are) you should use the -
or form.
Now, I can't promise you that this is
always the case since I haven't tried it out with every common gendered noun ending in
a, so therefore I will suggest that you learn not only the indefinite article when learning a new noun, but also which plural form it belongs to (sorry).
As you can see (hopefully), all you need to do to remove the final
a and replace it with the -
or suffix, et voilà: plural. If you want to change it into definite all you have to do is add -
na.
It should be noted that /r/ + /n/ is realized as [ɳ]. The same goes for /r/ + /t/, /d/, /s/ or /l/, which are realized as [ʈ], [ɖ], [ʂ] and [ɭ] respectively, even though it's probably far more common for /r/ + /l/ to be pronounced simply as [l].
All right, now let's take a look at the other two forms: -
er and -
ar.
-(e)rCode:
Singular « Plural
Indefinite: (en) katt « katter
(a) cat « cats
Definite : katten « katterna
the cat « the cats
-arCode:
Singular « Plural
Indefinite: (en) hund « hundar
(a) dog « dogs
Definite : hunden « hundarna
the dog « the dogs
Unfortunately there is no way to tell when to use -
er and when to use -
ar, at least as far as I can tell, so you'll just have to learn it with the noun.
As you can see you simply attach the plural ending and then the definite ending (which is
na once again).
-
er nouns ending in
e only receive an -
r when in plural.
Now, I should also tell you that all of the nouns that take -
ar plural form are of the common gender, just like the ones which take the -
or form. Nouns which receive the -
(e)r, however, consists mainly of common gendered nouns, but there are also some neuter nouns which take this ending in plural.
For example, the word
parti (as in a
political party):
Code:
Singular « Plural
Indefinite: (ett) parti « partier
(a) party « parties
Definite : partiet « partierna
the party « parties
Now, let's move on to the two remaining plural forms. And trust me, they're easier.
Neuter nouns which end in a vowel simply take the ending -
n when in plural indefinite, and -
na when in plural definite. For example, the word
hjärta (meaning
heart):
Code:
Singular « Plural
Indefinite: (ett) hjärta « hjärtan
(a) heart « hearts
Definite : hjärtat « hjärtana
the heart « the hearts
Simple, isn't it?
Now for something even simpler: neuter nouns which
doesn't end in a vowel receive no ending at all. The plural form is the same as the singular form. Let's use the word
hus (
house), which you've already encountered to demonstrate this:
Code:
Singular « Plural
Indefinite: (ett) hus « hus
(a) house « houses
Definite : huset « husen
the house « the houses
As you can see the only difference is the plural definite form, which is marked by the suffix -
en.
All right, that was easy, wasn't it?
It should be noted that there are also a few common gendered nouns which are unmarked in plural indefinite as well. These words are usually derived from other words. For example the word
bagare which means
baker is derived from the verb
att baka which means
to bake.
Code:
Singular « Plural
Indefinite: (en) bagare « bagare
(a) baker « bakers
Definite : bagaren « bagarna
the baker « the bakers
The plural definite suffix is the same as for any other common gendered noun, only difference here being that it replaces the final
e in the word
bagare. The singular definite suffix is also the same as for any common gendered noun.
GenitiveNow, how the hell do you form genitive you might ask? Well... I'll tell you, but I'm warning you, it's actually quite difficult. Ready? All right, here I go...
Add -
s.
Hard, isn't it? If you had trouble with that, wait until I tell you what to do when a noun already ends in
s like
hus:
You don't add it.
*insert sound of minds being blown*
Structure of nounsAll right, let's sum it all up by showing you which order everything goes in. It's actually quite simple and shouldn't take you too long to memorise:
Noun stem « (Plural) « (Definite suffix) « (Genitive -s)
For example, if we wanted to put
hund in the definite and genitive form we would first add the definite suffix which is -
en and the add the genitive suffix which is (don't beat yourself up if you can't remember) -
s:
HundensThe dog's
Now you should have enough knowledge to form sentences like
Hundens hus (
The dog's house)
.
Vocabulary & IPAAll right, before listing the vocabulary I just wanted to add that vocabulary will be given with it's indefinite article
and indefinite plural form from now on, unless it's the same as its indefinite singular form, then you'll only see the article. I will be enclosing the plural forms in parenthesis. And since I didn't list the plural form for the previous lesson I'll add them too.
En katt(er) - A cat - [ənː kʰatː]
En hund(ar) - A dog - [ənː hɵnːd]
En kvinna(or) - A woman - [ənː kʰvɪnːa]
En man* - A man - [ənː manː]
En man(ar) - A mane - [ənː mɑːn]
Ett hus - A house - [ətː hʉːs]
Ett jobb - A job - [ətː jʊbː]
Ett liv - A life - [ətː liːv]
Ett tak - A ceiling - [ətː tʰɑːk]
* the plural of
man (man) is
män [mənː].
En flaska(or) - A bottle - [ənː flasːka]
Ett parti(er) - A political party - [ətː pʰaʈiː]
Ett hjärta(n) - A heart - [ətː jæʈa]
En bagare - A baker [ənː bɑːgarə]
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. Jag började ju lära henne så att hon skulle kunna säga/skriva annat än "tack, horor" 
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(native)
