Swedish

Swedish is a North Germanic language spoken natively by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, although the degree of mutual intelligibility is largely dependent on the dialect and accent of the speaker.

History

The Swedish language belongs to a northern offshoot of the Old East Norse, which was spoken in the Scandinavian Peninsula until about 1300. Its earliest form, Old Swedish, emerged around 1225. The language has undergone several changes throughout history, with Modern Swedish emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Dialects

There are several dialects of Swedish, including Svealand Swedish, Götaland Swedish, and Norrland Swedish. These dialects can vary significantly, to the point where it is sometimes difficult for speakers of different dialects to understand each other.

Grammar

Swedish grammar is similar to English in that it is generally subject-verb-object. However, it differs in many ways, such as the use of enclitic definite articles, the omission of auxiliary verbs in many contexts, and the use of passive voice more frequently than in English.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Swedish is largely Germanic, with influences from Latin, French, and English. It also has a number of unique words that do not have direct translations in other languages.

Writing system

Swedish is written using the Latin script, with the addition of three letters: å, ä, and ö. These letters are considered separate from their non-diacritic counterparts and have their own place in the alphabet.

See also

• Swedish phonology
• Swedish orthography
• Swedish literature
• Swedish culture