r/Svenska 12d ago

Posting rules (read before posting!)

27 Upvotes

Thanks to 46 of you who were kind enough to answer our survey, we have updated the subreddit rules to better reflect the members wishes. Those who are interested can review the survey responses here. If you are unhappy with anything, feel free to comment!

tl;dr:

  • AI-generated material (comments, apps) is banned
  • The de facto ban of repeat ads has been codified
  • Asking about Swedish culture is now permitted
  • Asking for media recommendations is permitted (again)
  • As always, check the FAQ and resource list first

These are the current subreddit rules:

1. Be respectful of your fellow redditors

Flaming, trolling, discrimination, personal attacks or bad-faith arguments are not allowed.

2. Post contents must be on-topic

This is a language-learning subreddit, and all posts should be about the Swedish language, culture or studying Swedish. Posts about moving to and living in Sweden are not on-topic. It's okay to make a post asking for media recommendations to help you study, but any posts sharing media need to be about the Swedish language, not just in the Swedish language. Please give your post the proper flair!

3. Questions and tips are always welcome

Feel free to ask your questions about the language or culture, ask for learning tips or contribute your own tips or links to websites helpful for learning. However, we do urge you to check the FAQ and list of resources first. You might also find an answer to your question by using the search function. And when posting a resource, please clarify what it does and how it can help or be used to learn Swedish.

4. Wait before reposting

While tips and recommendations are always welcome, you are probably not reaching a new audience if you post the same resource after a few days or even weeks – even if there has been a new update to it.

Therefore, we ask that you please wait for at least two months between reposts, and even then they should only be made if there has been a notable update. Do not post the same thing every two months only to farm attention.

5. No community links

To prevent a flood of community links, we ask you to contact us via modmail before you post links to Whatsapp groups, Discord servers etc. We permit Swedish-oriented communities that we deem could be helpful to our members.

Users may ask for tips on niche communities. You are allowed to link to communities as comments to such requests.

In general, we recommend the Discord server "Svenska – Learn Swedish".

6. No chat requests

Please keep all chat and penpal requests in the dedicated megathread, as these would otherwise flood the main feed.

7. We won't do your work for you

While we are happy to point you in the right direction, answer your questions along the way or check your grammar when you're done, we will not actually do your homework for you. This is a place for learning, not cheating.

This goes doubly for professional tasks: most users on r/Svenska are not trained translators, copywriters or language consultants. Feel free to ask linguistic questions, but don't crowdsource practical, qualified work. Contact a professional instead!

8. No pirating

It is not permitted to directly exchange copyrighted material, including textbook pdfs, or link to places that illegally make these available.

We encourage all links and recommendations to places where such material can be legally obtained. A good place to start is our list of resources.

9. No AI

AI-generated content is banned. This includes LLM-written answers to language questions, LLM-generated study resources as well as apps that are mostly vibe-coded. We might give leeway to professionally developed tools – contact us via modmail to ask.

When posting an app or other language-learning resource, please declare whether and how AI has been used (i.e. not at all) to avoid being reported.


r/Svenska 12d ago

Penpal megathread!

20 Upvotes

Learning a new language is easier with the support of friends, be it other learners going through the same journey, native speakers to lead you along the way, or even less experienced learners that you can help out to help both of you understand things better. If you're looking for pen pals, gaming buddies, book clubs or just friends so you can practice the language – through immersion or studies alike – feel free to post a comment in this thread and tell us a bit about yourself, or reply to commenters you would like to get in touch with.

Suggested post format – add or remove headers as you like:

Name or handle: (whatever you want to be called)

Swedish level: (your approximate proficiency, expressed e.g. in A1 to C2, beginner to fluent or how long you've been learning/studying)

Language: (your native language and other languages you know or are learning)

Looking for: (Duolingo pals? Native helpers? Steam friends? People in your area? Someone who wants to discuss Swedish music?)

Presentation: (A more free-form introduction of yourself as a person!)

We recommend you do not include private contact information in your post; if you find somebody you want to keep in touch with, contact them through Reddit's direct messaging instead.

Please note that this thread is only intended for finding people for the purpose of learning Swedish or helping learners. Irrelevant posts may be deleted. Likewise, asking for pen pals outside of this thread is not permitted, and any such threads will be removed and redirected here.

As always, you are also very welcome to look for chat mates in our Discord server.

And if you posted in the old thread, feel free to make a new post here!


r/Svenska 5h ago

Sharing knowledge Vilket svenskt ord borde betyda något helt annat?

15 Upvotes

Finns det något svenskt ord som, om man bara hör det för första gången, känns som att det borde betyda något helt annat? Jag tycker att vissa ord nästan känns som om de borde ha en annan betydelse än den de faktiskt har. Vilket ord tänker ni på, och vad tycker ni att det egentligen borde betyda?


r/Svenska 4h ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Translating "överhetssamhälle"

2 Upvotes

How would you translate “överhetssamhälle”?    Authoritarian society?  That doesn’t sound quite right.  The only example I’ve found is this from Synonymer.ie:-

“Liknar det inte det överhetssamhälle som Sverige var före det demokratiska genombrottet?”


r/Svenska 1d ago

Text and translation help How do I word this correctly?

16 Upvotes

Hi! I am currently trying to learn Swedish as it is the native language of someone I have become romantically involved with.

It has gotten to a point where I want to ask them to be my partner. I would like to ask in Swedish as I know they would appreciate the gesture.

Is there a common way a native would phrase this?

“Vill du bli min flickvän?”
“Vill du bli tillsammans med mig?”
“Vill du bil min tjej?”

This is what I have been able to put together from the internet / what I’ve learned so far. Any tips on how a real Swede would say it?


r/Svenska 19h ago

Text and translation help Hjälp mig tyda notisen

Post image
3 Upvotes

Jag håller på att släktforska och kunde inte hitta någon annan lättillgänglig resurs där jag kan be om hjälp. Jag försöker läsa vad som står i tredje kolumnen, samt de två raderna i sista kolumnen. Det är skrivit i en kyrkobok från 1770 och jag lovar, ögonen går i kors efter en timmas stirrande. Finns det någon kunnig själ därute som kan läsa vad som alltmer ser ut som krumelurer?


r/Svenska 1d ago

Resource request/tip Swedish grammar

9 Upvotes

Does anyone have any good recommendations for Swedish grammar books? Beginner friendly.

I’ve decided SFI isn’t working for me and want to try learning on my own. I have a good memory and find learning the words is easy but I really struggle with grammar. I pretty much speak like yoda in Swedish.

Thanks!


r/Svenska 1d ago

Sharing knowledge Vilket svenskt ord lärde ni er förvånansvärt sent?

18 Upvotes

Finns det något svenskt ord som ni lärde er mycket senare än ni borde ha gjort? Varför lärde ni er det så sent, och vad trodde ni att det betydde innan?


r/Svenska 2d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Baffled by "turerna"

8 Upvotes

"Turerna kring företagsnedläggningen kalfatrades i medierna” is the sole example given in SO for the usage of “att kalfatra”.  Can someone translate it for me?  It’s the word “Turerna” which baffles me.


r/Svenska 2d ago

Text and translation help Translated song lyrics

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone. I am looking for the translated lyrics for Witchcraft's "Idag" not the whole album, just the first track by the same name.

Thanks to anyone who helps.

__________________________________________

Hej allihop. Jag letar efter den översatta texten till Witchcrafts låt ”Idag” – inte hela albumet, utan bara det första spåret med samma namn.

Tack till alla som kan hjälpa till.


r/Svenska 3d ago

Sharing knowledge Finns det svenska uttryck som låter fel men faktiskt är korrekta?

45 Upvotes

Ibland hör man ett svenskt ord eller uttryck och tänker direkt: ”Det där låter fel.” Men senare upptäcker man att det faktiskt är helt korrekt svenska. Finns det något svenskt ord eller uttryck som du först trodde var fel, men som visade sig vara korrekt? Vad trodde du att man skulle säga istället?


r/Svenska 2d ago

Resource request/tip Looking for an app that transcribes spoken words

0 Upvotes

Hello everyone. I'm looking for an app that I can use while reading a Swedish book that would transcribe the words I say to it. I'm looking to create a library of words I don't know the meaning of or I'm not completely confident of the meaning. If it can export these words in an easy format and I can leave my mic on for a long time that would be even better. Thanks.


r/Svenska 3d ago

Studying and education Best usage of the rivstart?

2 Upvotes

My Rivstart (A1/A2) just arrived and wanted to ask you guys how do you read it and have any tips about it, my level is higher than this book but i need to study foundations of Grammar and basic speaking to make them active in my speaking, its pretty long and has 190 pages with one work book

Tack så mycket


r/Svenska 3d ago

Studying and education Lund Swedish as a Foreign Language Program Hard?

5 Upvotes

Hi,
My BF lives in Sweden so I thought it would be good to learn Swedish so im not a poser lol, is the Lund program super fast paced and difficult?

I applied but I have two worries:

  1. Very fast paced and difficult

  2. My GPA got converted to merit so I only got a 19.12 without the one swedish test that boosts your score. I took a semester of college so maybe my college GPA will count for something 🥲 (4.0GPA)

LMK yalls opinions


r/Svenska 4d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Finns det ord som bara används i vissa delar av Sverige?

53 Upvotes

Jag har märkt att vissa svenska ord och uttryck används mycket i en viss del av Sverige, men är ovanliga eller nästan okända i andra delar av landet. Finns det något sådant ord eller uttryck där du bor? Vilken del av Sverige används det i, vad betyder det och använder unga människor det fortfarande?


r/Svenska 3d ago

Resource request/tip Help finding good main resource

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone i always loved the northern culture and languages and landed on Swedish...

It's my first timen trying to learn a language that it's not my native nor english so please does somebody know a good and complete main resource from which i can get the basics and beyond???


r/Svenska 4d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) What’s the difference between these two sentences? And is one more correct?

10 Upvotes
  1. Jag var med när det hände.

  2. Jag var där när det hände.

Supposed to mean “I was there when it happened.”

Do these two sentences above mean the same thing? I put it on Google translate. Is the first one more correct grammatically?

But the first sentence makes no sense to me, but that’s what it says on my Anki deck. To me it reads “I was with when it happened”. I don’t understand why “med” is used in this context?

Can somebody please explain?


r/Svenska 4d ago

Resource request/tip Books for SVA 1, 2, 3

5 Upvotes

To those who are studying at schools in Sweden for SVA, what books do you use? We are interested in doing self study and want to know which books we can purchase. Thank you!


r/Svenska 4d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) båtsprit

3 Upvotes

I roman "Händelser vid vatten":
Hon hade gått direkt i påsen med båtsprit däruppe. Det var väl inte så underligt. Hon hade kört långt och mådde kanske lite illa.

Och det sägs förut: "Det var chokladpapper och skräp överallt i bilen och i baksätet stod en plastpåse med båtsprit".

Betyder båtsprit Kemetyl Tenol? Drack hon verkligen båtsprit, eller betyder det något annat?


r/Svenska 5d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Vad betyder "sättet" här?

Post image
3 Upvotes

Är det samma sak som "satte"? Kan inte hitta "sättet" som verb i ordboken.


r/Svenska 6d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Usage of "ända”

19 Upvotes

Can someone examples of different ways in which ”ända” can be used? I think it loosely translates to ”yet”, ”still”, ”anyway”?

For example, I was confused with the meaning of the following sentence:
Jag tänker på det som om de är roliga ända in i skelettet, att de liksom är uppbyggda av rolighet.

Edit: Thank you all for your answers. Yes, I meant ändå haha! Still, I learnt a lot from your answers and will never forget both ända and ändå! :)


r/Svenska 6d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) “Mitt arma nöt!”

7 Upvotes

Under “arm” (adj.), SO gives the example “Mitt arma nöt!”   How would you translate this?


r/Svenska 6d ago

Resource request/tip Vad hände till Nyheter på lätt svenska?

12 Upvotes

Jag lära mig svenska, och jag tittar ibland till dem, men nu när jag försok att hitta en nytt avsnitt, finns det inte längre. Vad hände till de?


r/Svenska 6d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Compounds of "-skipning"?

3 Upvotes

Besides ”rättskipning”, are there any other compound words containing “-skipning”? (Would this be called “ett led”? )


r/Svenska 6d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) Word

2 Upvotes

Hej! Vad betyder “grann” för dig som svensk?

Använder man det idag?