Monday 20 June 2011

en / ett word? Learn it with you word.

Swedish language has two genders
1. Common gender (en)
2. Neuter gender (ett)

What has it got to do with vocabulary? Well, in Swedish THE is used in the ending and together with the word.

So if a noun is an en word, then you add an -en at the end of the word
For example: en hiss (a lift) - hissen (the lift)

Also, the adjectives used with en nouns are in basic forms
For example:  en stor stad

Similarly when a noun is an ett word, then you add an -et at the end of the word.
For example: ett hus (a house) - huset (the house)

The adjective for ett nouns take an -t at the end of the adjective
For example: ett stort huset

Finally, the adjectives with the plural forms of the nouns always take -a at the end of the adjective. This is applicable to both en/ett plural nouns.

For example: dyra viner (ett vin) / vackra flickor (en flicka)

There are some exception to this rule:
If a noun finishes with an unstressed vowel, then only add -n / -t at the end.

There is no hard / fast rule as to which word is en or ett but you will just have to learn and get used to them.

I think it is easier to learn en / ett with the word itself. Hence, the correlation with vocabulary.

Hope these tips helps.
Best wishes
Sree

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