Nouns and articles

Articles and definite forms

The definite article in Swedish is a suffix, while the indefinite article (en or ett...also meaning one=1) is a separate word preceding the noun.

 
Almost 80% of the nouns are "en" words, the rest "ett" words or uncountables

• "en" words ending with -A = plural form +OR but drop the a
• "en" words that are short 1-2 syllables or end in -ing = plural form +AR
• "en" words that are long, 2+ syllables or international = plural form +ER
• "ett" words ending in a consonant = plural form no change
• "ett" words ending in a vowel = plural form +N
• -N ending for "en" words and -T ending for "ett" words in singular definite
• -NA ending in plural definite

En stol ( a chair) , stolen (the chair), stolar (chairs), stolarna (the chairs)

En telefon (a telephone), telefonen (the telephone), telefoner (telephones), telefonerna (the phones)

En blomma (a flower) blomman (the flower), blommor (flowers), blommorna (the flowers)

Ett bord (a table), bordet (the table) , bord (tables), borden (the tables)

Ett piano (a piano), pianot (the piano), pianon (the pianos), pianona (the pianos)

Uncountable: Like in English; water, coffee, sugar, air, water, butter etc

Exceptions: There are a few exceptions you just have to learn by heart

• En words that end in -EL or -ER will have the ending - AR/-OR but  drop the -E
• En words that end in -are will not change in plural
• some words change the vowel in plural or get an added letter
• Very short words just get an -R added

Examples:

man - män (man - men)                            mus - möss (mouse - mice)                          fot - fötter (foot -feet) hand - händer (hand - hands)                 stad - städer (city - cities)                            ko - kor (cow - cows)   fågel - fåglar (bird - birds)                         syster - systrar (sister - sisters)               toffel - tofflor (slipper - slippers)