svenska

Old Norse

Adjective

svenska

1. strong feminine accusative singular of svenskr
2. strong masculine accusative plural of svenskr
3. weak masculine oblique singular of svenskr
4. weak feminine nominative singular of svenskr
5. weak neuter all cases singular of svenskr

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²svɛnska/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

svenska

1. inflection of svensk:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

Noun

svenska c

1. (uncountable) Swedish (language)

   Talar du svenska?

   Do you speak Swedish?

   Hon talar inte (så mycket) svenska

   She doesn't speak (much) Swedish

   Ursäkta, min svenska är inte så bra

   Excuse me, my Swedish isn't very good [is not so good]

   Hur säger man det på svenska?

   How do you say that / it in Swedish?

   Vad heter det på svenska?

   What is that / it called in Swedish? ["What is that / it named in Swedish?" – "Vad kallas det på svenska?" (What is that / it called in Swedish?) is also perfectly clear, but a bit less idiomatic]

   Det kan vara svårt att öva sin svenska när folk byter till engelska

   It can be difficult to practice your Swedish when people switch to English

   Alla talar svenska

   Everyone speaks Swedish [common phrase on posters and covers and the like for dubbed movies]

   lånord i svenskan

   loan words in [the] Swedish [Definite corresponds to thinking of a language as an "entity" – compare "in the Swedish language"]

2. a female Swede

   – Är hennes kollega också norska? – Nej, hon är svenska.

   – Is her colleague also a [female] Norwegian? – No, she is a [female] Swede. [See vara for why there is no article. "Hon är svensk" also works.]

   två svenskor

   two Swedish women

Declension

Declension of svenska
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	svenska	svenskan	svenskor	svenskorna
Genitive	svenskas	svenskans	svenskors	svenskornas

Derived terms

• finlandssvenska
• fornsvenska
• kanslisvenska
• nusvenska
• nysvenska
• runsvenska
• svensktalande
• svenskspråkig

References

• svenska in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• svenska in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• svenska in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• svenska on the Swedish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^sv