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Lesson 10A1

Plural Nouns

Plural Nouns

Building on the en/ett gender from the last lesson, plurals split along the same line — en-words and ett-words each take their own set of plural endings.

Grammar Comparison

Grammar Comparison

en-words usually add -ar or -or

Swedish

en pojke → pojkar, en flicka → flickor

English

a boy → boys, a girl → girls

Most en-words take -ar in the plural, like en pojke (a boy) → pojkar. A smaller group takes -or instead, like en flicka (a girl) → flickor — and a few, like en katt (a cat) → katter, take -er instead. There's no single rule that predicts which ending a given en-word takes — you'll learn each noun's plural as you meet it, the same way you already learned each noun's en/ett gender.

ett-words often don't change at all in the indefinite plural

Swedish

ett hus → hus, ett bord → bord

English

a house → houses, a table → tables

A large share of ett-words stay completely unchanged in the plural: ett hus (a house) → hus (houses) — identical to the singular, with only the missing ett and context showing it's now plural. This is a genuine simplification compared to en-words, which almost always add something.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

en pojkeen POYK-eh
English
a boy
pojkarPOYK-ar
English
boys
en flickaen FLICK-ah
English
a girl
flickorFLICK-or
English
girls
en katten kat
English
a cat
katterKAT-er
English
cats
ett huset hoos
English
a house
hushoos
English
houses
ett bordet boord
English
a table
bordboord
English
tables