Adjective Agreement
Adjective Agreement
Swedish adjectives change their ending to match the noun's en/ett gender and number — something English adjectives never do — but the pattern is short and learnable.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
ett-words and plurals add -t or -a to the adjective
en stor bil (a big car), ett stort hus (a big house), stora bilar (big cars)
a big car, a big house, big cars
An adjective's base form, like stor (big), is used as-is with en-words: en stor bil. Before an ett-word, add -t: ett stort hus. In the plural — regardless of en/ett — add -a instead: stora bilar (big cars), stora hus (big houses). Three simple endings cover nearly every regular adjective.
Adjectives come before the noun, same as English
en röd bil
a red car
Unlike some European languages that place descriptive adjectives after the noun, Swedish keeps them before it, exactly matching English word order: en röd bil is "a red car", word for word. This is one place where your English instinct transfers directly, with nothing to unlearn.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- big (en-word/base form)
- English
- big (ett-word)
- English
- big (plural)
- English
- small (en-word)
- English
- small (ett-word)
- English
- red (en-word)
- English
- red (ett-word)
- English
- nice (en-word)
- English
- nice (ett-word)
- English
- a red car