Swedish Basics - En and Ett (Swedish genders)

[@jab9109]

"People are eN-words" I will remember that for sure

[@sayitinswedish]

I bet you will 😂👊

[@apolloxv8820]

😂😂😂😂

[@brunomoreiraguedes4547]

Remember to never talk about people LOL

[@maxbryan9397]

@@sayitinswedish YOU CAN'T SAY THAT, THAT'S RACIST! I'M CALLING THE POLICE! *Enters in 911 on microwave.*

[@clydexmation4583]

@@maxbryan9397 😬😬😬

[@bjornsan]

I found this video because I'm, as a Swede was wondering if there is a rule for this. One thing I found is that if it's an En-ord you always use den, din and min. If it's an Ett-ord you always use det, ditt and mitt. One word that changes meaning depending on if you use en or ett is plan. Ett plan = A plane. En plan = A plan.

[@sayitinswedish]

Exakt.

[@croonch6538]

I sort of had an idea that this was how it was. I've always been slightly confused though since I'm learning Swedish on Duolingo and they never explain anything. Tack så mycket :)

[@sayitinswedish]

Duolingo is mostly good for learning how to type words. Try my site as well for some more meat www.sayitinswedish.com

[@Xx-xk7xu]

Reason why you can’t study from a single source.

[@jey.1024]

omg me too! I'm surprised by how much I've learned even though I'm like not even close to being fluent 😂😂 I REALLY want to learn swedish

[@jey.1024]

@@croonch6538 yeah I've only been studying like a few minutes each day and im trying to use it in conversation as much as i can but we'll get there :) best of luck to you as well 😊

[@jey.1024]

@@croonch6538 wow that's so helpful! Thank you, or should I say tack 😉

[@erexford]

This is the best explanation of "ett" and "en" I have ever seen. And, thanks for the great advice about diving in and trying to speak Swedish no matter what!!

[@sayitinswedish]

Thank you. I wanted it to be very basic.

[@daysandwords]

When I learned Swedish, I just went with N every time, and now I do this even in languages that are not so one sided. The reason is that Swedes will almost always correct genders, because they feel comfortable doing that, so it means if you use the wrong gender, 2 seconds later, you know it was wrong. That makes it more productive than a lot of other mistakes you might make. So in French I always just go with "une / la" (feminine) because I feel like the majority are feminine (don't really know). I also don't buy that it's 70-80% in Swedish. It feels like 50%, and I could possibly believe 70%, but it's definitely not 80%. There are quite a lot of categories where ALL those words are "ett", it's just that they might not be very common words.

[@sayitinswedish]

@@daysandwords haha, and I don't agree. It feels like it's almost never "ett".

[@daysandwords]

@@sayitinswedish Not going to argue, you're the expert! I think because I heard that it was "mostly" en, then EVERY "ett" word I learned, I noted it as a special case, so it's kind of an observer effect or un-confirmatory bias. *Checks Routledge Comprehensive Swedish Grammar*: "About 75% of nouns occurring in Swedish newspapers are non-neuter (common)." My apologies for arguing! Maybe when I speak, I just use lots of unusual words haha.

[@sayitinswedish]

@@daysandwords I'm in no way an expert, I'm just an enthusiast

[@DaveArchetype]

Thanks for the vids man. I'm learning swedish on KZbin and Duolingo and could not find anything about the nouns and genders so far

[@sayitinswedish]

Thanks for watching, I'm glad I can help.

[@AnastasiiaS-yt5kc]

Wow, I haven't known Duolingo has Swedish

[@anapacelli8069]

That really made sense to me. I’ve only been studying for a couple of months. And I was totally confused by this, thanks for clearing it up. Incidentally, I am totally blind, and although I can’t see what’s on the screen, you explained enough, so that I understand exactly. You do this by repeating things, and that’s a wonderful thing for me! Love your channel. Tack

[@sayitinswedish]

That's awesome! I'm happy you were able to get enough information without seeing the visuals.

[@jabe5473]

this helps a lot! also love that jazz music in the background, very relaxing!

[@sayitinswedish]

I like it too :)

[@japanmania30]

TAK!! This is my first time learning Svenska, and I find your videos useful . I have been learning for about 3 weeks.

[@sayitinswedish]

Good luck!

[@gustavsamuel]

Are you fluent now? It’s been over a year!

[@muslim_warner]

It's not 'tak' but 'tack'. 'tak' means roof.

[@trinityw3964]

Thankyou so much can’t find anything this simple on the whole bloody internet

[@thetrunkinator85]

So long story short: Ett is used for places and En is used for people EXCEPT child which is Ett and anything that is not people or places like table, chair, lamp etc.. is most likely En Correct me if I am wrong btw

[@sayitinswedish]

Well, "child" is not the only exception. You're making it a bit too easy :D Lamp and chair are both "en" words :) En lampa, en stol.

[@JBobjork]

And table is ett (ett bord)

[@Iemonic]

ett paraply an umbrella

[@Nikita35485]

1:50 - me, as a native Russian speaker with three genders, complex inflection and six cases: 😌

[@leanonthephone]

реально

[@theladthattakescontent2650]

Thank you! I’m learning Swedish and these super confused me! Helped a lot!

[@sayitinswedish]

Great!

[@saintpearl5429]

Thanks for this I'm using Duolingo to learn swedish I started a few days ago and as far as I know so far Duolingo doesn't teach the grammar rules so I have to find KZbin videos for that. That's why before watching this video I didn't even know that nouns had genders in Swedish.

[@jeanninem.4059]

Thanks Joakim your videos really are helping me.Tack igen🙏

[@sayitinswedish]

Ingen fara! (=

[@davidip9236]

Thank you i just started learning swedish for 20 days. Subscribed u just now❤

[@sunnymeadow1856]

Tak for the video! Most of the languages I speak have Masculine, Feminine and Neuter genders, so I was pretty confused by common gender in Swedish! I have a better grasp on it now, thank you!

[@sayitinswedish]

Wonderful!

[@suzumee780]

Heyy , Im trying to learn swedish , and actually I remember that there are some tips for learners if it comes to nouns with neuter gender , so I would like to share and verify if its correct :) There is a group in where most of the verbs will take common gender (EN) but there are exeptions in case : While noun ends with UM, ERI For example: UM ending Ett rum - Rumet Ett album - Albumet Ett museum - Mueet Ett datum - Datumet En universum - Universumet ERI ending Ett Batteri - Batteriet Ett Bageri - Bageriet Ett Bildgalleri - Bildgalleriet Ett Mejeri - Mejeriet Ett Plågeri - Plågeriet Let me know what you folk think about it ! Would be cool to verify the knowledge :)

[@Lightworker87]

I will love to know if this is correct. It will help a lot

[@joansmith3966]

Perfect explanation. I knew the different articles must have something to do with gender, but couldn't quite figure out the pattern on my own. This was exactly what I needed to tie it all together. Thanks!

[@sayitinswedish]

Cool!

[@davidisrael8537]

People are en words but not a child. I got caught out as I tried to use this rule and then told I needed to use ett. I've just started to learn Swedish yesterday in the hope I can understand some of my music and for when I visit Sweden. Plus it's not the standard route one of doing French, German or Spanish etc. At least I know some basics at the moment.

[@sayitinswedish]

True, the rules are just guidelines here. Good luck!

[@erickeduardobenitez5706]

Thanks, dude . This is very useful. :)

[@sayitinswedish]

Great!

[@punmije]

it is interesting that English is genderless. Slavic languages have genders too (and cases). Are there cases in Swedish?

[@nebelung1]

Short answer is no, except the genitive "s" ending (husets tak = the roof of the house/the house's roof). But historically Swedish used to have four genders, and there are still some fragments left of that case system in the language (in some fixed phrases etc).

[@the-bruh.cum5]

No English isn't genderless Why did he say *She* told me

[@jackson5802]

The funny thing to me is that the supposedly "hardest language to learn" for English natives is Chinese, yet it has no gendered nouns. Even he, she, and it are said the same though they are written differently.

[@jackson5802]

@@the-bruh.cum5 I get what you mean, but I think they were talking about gendered nouns. Like chair in English is just a chair. In French it's la chaise, feminine. In German it's un stuhl, masculine. We don't have that.

[@amirmanistar4828]

You explained It very easily and fluently.

[@sayitinswedish]

Thanks

[@TeethAndEyeballs]

Thank you for this explanation! I’ve been confused as I assumed all objects/things were ett and people and animals were en. But I was thrown off seeing ett barn or en talrik in my studies

[@sayitinswedish]

Yes! There is no easy rule like that. Glad I could help!

[@JazzIsFilth]

Video starts at 1:38

[@Iemonic]

ive heard that every word that ends with "a" is common gender (en)

[@sayitinswedish]

I'd say almost yeah. But alone the letter A is "ett A". So keep that in mind.

[@kantasingh2025]

Then why ett apple and en applesin. I m still confused🤔

[@sayitinswedish]

It just came to be. Swedish is not a planned language and words sometimes shift genders over time.

[@rosstapson]

Thanks :) all the help we can get.

[@JBobjork]

And if you put -en after barn it becomes barnen, meaning "the children" :)

[@mogret7451]

So learn the most important ett-words by heart and then go for en on the rest of them. 😎

[@amandasvensson2810]

If possible, could you make a video about different dialects in Sweden? Or do you have any lessons on this? I'm moving to Sweden for school from the US, and I have family in Skåne who are making fun of the fact that I'll get a Gothenburg accent when I learn the language, but I have a hard time actually hearing the differences. Thank you for your making these resources!

[@sayitinswedish]

Maybe sometime but the Skåne accent is quite different from the one in Gothenburg :)

[@magikyuu]

Wait, so does ett mean an object and en mean a person or animal? I'm still confused even after watching this.

[@sayitinswedish]

That's a rule of thumb for you to have some kind of guide.

[@jackson5802]

I gathered that ett is for place nouns and some other scattered things and en is for everything else. It's as random as French tbh )))

[@sayitinswedish]

@@jackson5802 it's basically random in every language with grammatical genders

[@andres3622]

THANKS

[@gabrielsantiago4929]

Du är fantastisk!

[@sayitinswedish]

Nämen, oj då. Jag rodnar.

[@aweizmohamed7959]

tack for explain.. but little so difficult

[@sayitinswedish]

If you're unfamiliar with the concept it might be daunting but it's really straight forward. You just need to accept that there are very few rules here.

[@jazibee8269]

Good tips

[@sayitinswedish]

Thank you

[@jackson5802]

Why can't French make this much sense?

[@amberalbertinia1286]

All Germanic languages do have genders indeed, you just place the dedicated ones (en/ett) behind the word, which makes it weird comppared to other Germanic languages. But yeah some words may be female in Dutch but then male in German on Swedish. Or even French, AAAAH. Next language i'm gonna learn is without genders, because i even start messing up in my motherlanguage now xD

[@sayitinswedish]

Finnish :)

[@jordan484]

tack så mycket!! :)

[@basedbartholomew3968]

This has Nothing to do with the Video but Just to Elaborate Dutch doesn’t REALLY have genders they're not really used that often in Adjectives. And not at all in Possessive Pronouns. Great video BTW!

[@sayitinswedish]

But you do have "het" and "de".

[@Overlycomplicatedswede]

Consistency is everything in this language Even tho the amount of ways to say somethings in Swedish is absurd but try to be as accurate as you can tho! wish you all luck Greetings from Sweden :)

[@xanaxjanna2665]

7:33 woahhhh

[@sayitinswedish]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@jameshumphreys9715]

I saw Ett on a coin in Sweden.

[@Yash-rk2vx]

Very informative tricks

[@lisamirani4308]

I like your video, but I think it could use a couple improvements. Firstly the video could’ve easily been 5 mins or less since it doesn’t even start until 3:00. Secondly, just because a word starts with “en” doesn’t mean the definitive will end in “an”. For example I know the definitive of En flicka is flickan or en Kvinna is kvinnan, but en katt is Katten not kattan. Saying “put en towards the start and an towards the end” can be quite misleading for beginners

[@sayitinswedish]

Definitely never said that en and an are exactly the same thing but only that they are both indefinite articles.

[@SuperMagnetizer]

Jag skulle vilja säga, att ordet ord är ett ett-ord. Haha.

[@sayitinswedish]

det stämmer :D

[@OfoeNelson]

So if it's gender neutral it's ett and if it has a gender it's en

[@sayitinswedish]

Well, no. There are still "en" words that has nothing to with actual people. But people more often tend to be "en" words.

[@AkariBurmese]

Ett äpple,ett ägg,ett kök...😆

[@sayitinswedish]

Correct!

[@zalankenesei9319]

Hej! Another thing I really dont understand is how to say this and that, Duolingo doesnt really explain it and Im really confused by this certain thing, (also Im new in learning Swedish but its very Great so far) Tack så mycket och hej då:)

[@sayitinswedish]

This = detta/denna (written Swedish + southwestern dialects) - det/den här (spoken Swedish) That = det/den där

[@bramblebop1904]

Sounds weird, yeah? It _sure_ does!

[@sitaramosaics]

Oh, no, no rules :))) Great explanation, thanks. My native tongue is Dutch, so it shouldn't be too difficult (but it is, lol).

[@sayitinswedish]

Same there 😁

[@thenewempiremoodky2312]

Hej, tack så mycket Jag kommer från Dominikanska Republiken.

[@blackmetaltrajano3715]

tack

[@sayitinswedish]

tack själv

[@najma492]

Lool I’m more confused 😩😩

[@sayitinswedish]

Oh no! How can I help?

[@najma492]

Say It In Swedish do we use ett for like object such as ‘apple, car, water etc’ and en for a person ?

[@gardenwarrior4219]

I didnt understand anything here.

[@sayitinswedish]

That's not good, hopefully my lessons at www.sayitinswedish.com are clearer for you.

[@syedafatimaali2128]

I really like your content but i wish you could explain it alot better.. i was having trouble understanding coz there were so many umms and aaas in your speach.. the only reason why i don't consider watching your videos

[@sayitinswedish]

I can guarantee you that there are better resources out there if you can't stand my videos and my way of teaching. No hard feelings.

[@fernandobautista3200]

I like most of your videos but this was far too redundant.

[@sayitinswedish]

And why is that? And why does that matter? If you already know everything, why watch it? Someone else might know nothing about this. How is it redundant for them?

[@sumeerahassan1200]

Wasted my time.

[@sayitinswedish]

Then I assume you knew all of this before. If so, why watch the video at all?

[@slavisaasus]

It is an insult to say swedish is germanic language.

[@sayitinswedish]

Why would it be an insult? It's a fact? It's a North Germanic language and East Scandinavian.

[@slavisaasus]

@@sayitinswedish Because of etymology of older words, germanic linguo-cultural pillaging, idiotic theory of protoindoeuropean (protogermanic firstly, but it was too obvious) proposed and forced on by germanic scholars and me beeing too emotional 😎.

[@sayitinswedish]

@@slavisaasus are you high?

[@slavisaasus]

@@sayitinswedish Yes. 1,88m high, 105kg, blond slavo-scandic. Put joke aside, during my first visit to Sweden I felt beauty of swedish and started studying it on my own. My conversational swedish still sucks. Yet, I still stand strong behind my first post.

[@sayitinswedish]

@@slavisaasus sorry, but it's too obvious that it is a Germanic language. Even if you're not a scholar it's super obvious. Even if it weren't it's kind of weird to call it insulting.

[@ivyndane10]

Do you have an online teaching whatsap group

[@sayitinswedish]

I have a Discord server but no whatsapp group.

[@quandaledingle6948]

tack