User:Eirikr/Sandbox3/ni/sv

Swedish

Etymology

Since 1661, through contraction of the Old Swedish verb suffix -(e)n and the older pronoun I, e.g. vissten I > visste ni ’did you know’. Compare Icelandic þér and þið which developed similarly.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

/niː/

Pronoun

sv

1. you (plural nominative)
2. you (second-person singular nominative formal) (capitalized Ni, rare in modern use)

Usage notes

• Both ni and er are 2nd person plural, and are also used as the courteous or "formal" 2nd person singular (like the German Sie), capitalized (Ni, Er) or not. The use of titles an courteous forms is a political issue in Sweden. The courteous "ni" was introduced (following the pattern of e.g. French) around the year 1900, and largely abolished following a proposal in 1967 by Bror Rexed to simply use du instead. Friends of this democratic du-reform take offence when addressed with ni.

Declension

Swedish personal pronouns

Number	Person	Type	Nominative	Oblique	Possessive
					common	neuter	plural
singular	first	—	jag	mig, mej3	min	mitt	mina
	second	—	du	dig, dej3	din	ditt	dina
	third	masculine (person)	han	honom, han2, en5	hans
		feminine (person)	hon	henne, na5	hennes
		gender-neutral (person)1	hen	hen, henom7	hens
		common (noun)	den	den	dess
		neuter (noun)	det	det	dess
		indefinite	man or en4	en	ens
		reflexive	—	sig, sej3	sin	sitt	sina
plural	first	—	vi	oss	vår, våran2	vårt, vårat2	våra
	second	—	ni	er	er, eran2, ers6	ert, erat2	era
		archaic	I	eder	eder, eders6	edert	edra
	third	—	de, dom3	dem, dom3	deras
		reflexive	—	sig, sej3	sin	sitt	sina

¹Neologism. Usage has increased since 2010, and has gained widespread acceptance today.

²Informal

³Colloquial pronunciation spelling.

⁴Dialectal, also used lately as an alternative to man, to avoid association to the male gender.

⁵Informal, somewhat dialectal

⁶Formal address

⁷Discouraged by the Swedish Language Council