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Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the nouns they describe. In Swedish, adjectives are placed directly before the noun, as in English. There are two types of adjectives: strong and weak. Strong adjectives are used after the indefinite article and the words någon (a, some, any), ingen (no), en annan (another), vilken (what a), and all (all); as well as after the verbs to be and to become (vara and bli). Weak adjectives are used with the definite article, demonstratives, possessive adjectives or a possessive noun.
Strong (Indefinite): The basic rule for strong adjectives is to add -t for neuter nouns and -a for plural nouns. There is no ending for adjectives that modify common nouns.
common |
neuter |
plural |
|
basic rule | en fin bil a beautiful car |
ett fint hus a beautiful house |
fina bilar beautiful cars |
ending in vowel + d | god | gott | goda |
ending in consonant + d | ond | ont | onda |
ending long vowel | blå | blått | blåa |
ending in -er or -el | vacker | vackert | vackra |
ending in -en | egen | eget | egna |
gammal is irregular | gammal | gammalt | gamla |
liten is irregular | liten | litet | små |
Weak (Definite): The basic rule for weak adjectives is to add -a for all nouns. Note that the noun has the definite article attached to the end and the words den, det or de preceding the adjective. The adjective liten is completely irregular in the singular and plural. With adjectives follow possessives or demonstratives, the definite article is not attached to the end of the noun.
common |
neuter |
plural |
|
basic rule | den fina bilen the beautiful car |
det fina huset the beautiful house |
de fina bilarna the beautiful cars |
liten is irregular | den lilla bilen the small car |
det lilla huset the small house |
de små bilarna the small cars |
Some common adjectives cannot be declined and they remain the same in all forms: bra (good), extra (extra), gratis (free).
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