Family
Family
Family vocabulary is a great place to put en/ett gender into practice — and Swedish has a famous quirk English lacks entirely: separate words for each grandparent depending on which side of the family they're on.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Grandparents: mother's side vs. father's side
mormor (mother's mother), morfar (mother's father), farmor (father's mother), farfar (father's father)
grandmother, grandfather (English has no equivalent split)
English "grandmother" and "grandfather" don't say which side of the family the person is from. Swedish builds the word directly out of "mother" (mor) and "father" (far): mormor is literally "mother's mother", farfar is "father's father", and the mixed pairs mormor/morfar and farmor/farfar cover the other combinations. It's compositional and, once you see the pattern, easy to remember — mor + mor, mor + far, far + mor, far + far.
pappa/mamma vs. far/mor: casual vs. neutral
pappa, mamma (everyday, warm) vs. far, mor (neutral, more formal/written)
dad, mom vs. father, mother
Much like English "dad/mom" feels warmer than "father/mother", Swedish pappa and mamma are the everyday words you'll actually hear used at home, while far and mor are more neutral or literary — though, notably, far/mor are also the roots used to build the grandparent words above (mor-mor, far-far), so both pairs are worth knowing.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- a family / the family
- English
- a dad / the dad
- English
- a mom / the mom
- English
- a brother / the brother
- English
- a sister / the sister
- English
- a son / the son
- English
- a daughter / the daughter
- English
- parents
- English
- grandmother (mother's mother)
- English
- grandfather (mother's father)
- English
- grandmother (father's mother)
- English
- grandfather (father's father)
- English
- a boy / the boy
- English
- a girl / the girl