Gender
Firstly to give a simplified explanation of definite and indefinite forms. In English there is the apple and an apple; the refers to a specific apple - this is the definite form (just think of it as the) and an refers to any apple rather than a particular one - this is the indefinite form.
There are two genders in Swedish; common or 'en' words and neuter or 'ett' words. The gender of a noun dictates its definite form.
Common Gender
75% of nouns found in newspapers are common gender. Common Gender nouns are marked by the indefinite marker 'en' and by the definite suffix -(e)n. For example en penna - a pen, becomes pennan as in a pen - the pen. If the noun ends in a vowel then only -n is affixed.
Neuter Gender
Neuter gender nouns are marked by the indefinite marker 'ett' and by the definite suffix -(e)t. For example ett äpple - an apple becomes äpplet as in an apple - the apple. Note that when, as in this case, the noun ends in a vowel only -t is affixed.
There are no strict rules for deciding which gender a noun should be, there are guidelines which can help but they have so many exceptions that it is best just to learn a noun with its gender. For example if you learnt stol - chair you should remember it is "en stol" so that you always associate it with its gender.
However, just to complicate things, some nouns cannot take an indefinite article. This is because nouns can be divided into 2 categories; count and non-count nouns. For example when referring to the substance "coffee" (rather than the drink i.e. I would like a coffee) you cannot say "a coffee" because coffee is uncountable. However even though these words cannot be preceded by en or ett, they still have a gender which is required to make the definite form such as "the coffee" - "kaffet".
There is often confusion with these words, even though kaffe is a neuter gender word when ordering one (cup of) coffee you say "en kaffe", I assume this is because of the fact that it is uncountable and this explanation seems to work for me so far but I have not yet found a written explanation in any text book.
Thankfully there are two words in both Swedish and English which can be used to identify count and non-count nouns. In Swedish these words are:
Många - many and mycket - much
So for example:
Mycket sand - much sand, words which can be placed after mycket like this are non-count nouns. You cannot say *en sand, just as you cannot say *a sand.
Många bollar - many balls, words which can be placed after många like this are count nouns. You can say en boll just as you can say a ball.
The gender of nouns also plays a role in adjective agreement, but we will discuss this in a separate article.
For learning
Swedish | Category
Uncategorized | Level
Unspecified |
Second language
English | Created
Nov 08, 2008 18:15 | Views
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