Remember when we talked about “ett” and “en” words? I think my post confused a couple of people, who were quick to point out that you can’t put an indefinite article in front of SOME nouns. Yes, that is correct. But even without that article in front of them, the nouns can still be distinguished as either “ett” or “en”. In fact, they MUST be distinguished, if you want to make yourself understood when speaking or writing.

So, let me confuse you further.

Today’s topic: uncountable nouns (icke-räckningsbara substantiv).

We have them in English, too. Words like “milk” and “meat” and “peace”, for example. Normally, we wouldn’t put “an” or “a” in front of them. They don’t get an indefinite article, but of course they can take the definite form – the milk, the meat, and so on.

Swedish works in exactly the same way. Uncountable nouns can’t be accompanied by an indefinite article. But just like in English, such nouns can still be made into definite forms. In English, we put “the” in front of them and our work is done. In Swedish however, it’s not quite that simple. Don’t worry, it’s still simple, but done in a Swedish way.

In the “en” or “ett” post, I claimed that all Swedish nouns could be divided into two groups. The “en” group and the “ett” group. And those little articles are very important, indeed. They tell us how to make the definite form of each noun, and that is done by sticking either the whole “en” or “n” or “t” at the end of the word. And that’s the gist of “en” and “ett” words. Not much to it. Why it’s called “gender” in grammar books, I am not really sure, it’s probably a way for linguists make this language more exciting.

Read More »