Beginner #7 - Shopping for new clothes (En Nouns)

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Anders har muntlig tenta nästa vecka men han har inga passande kläder. Dessutom behöver han brådskande nya byxor och en tjocktröja. Han beslutar därför att gå ut och shoppa. Han åker in till Stockholms innerstad och hittar en affär på drottninggatan. Först letar han efter tröjan. Han går förbi kjolar och kappor och hittar en snygg tröja men inte i sin storlek. Därför letar han efter expediten.
Anders has got an oral exam but has no clothes that fit. In addition he urgently needs new pants and a sweater. That's why he decides to go shopping. He goes in to Stockholm city and finds a store in the drottninggatan. First, he looks for a sweater. He walks past skirts and coats and finds a nice looking sweater but not in his size. That's why he looks for the clerk.
Anders: Hej, jag har en fråga. Finns den här tröjan i medium? Jag har letat bland alla tröjor men inte hittat min storlek.
Hello, I've got a question. Do you have this sweater in medium size? I've searched among all sweaters but cannot find my size.
Expediten: Bra fråga. Det kom lite nya varor nyss. Skjortorna, strumporna och underkläderna har jag redan packat upp. Det kanske kom tröjor också. Ett ögonblick, så ska jag se efter. Du har tur. En tröja i medium var med.
Good question. A couple of new articles just arrived. I've already unpacked the shirts, socks, and underwear. Maybe some shirts came as well. One moment, I'm going to look... You're in luck. One sweater in medium came in.
Anders: Vad bra! Då tar jag den. Har ni någonting finare? Jag har en muntlig tenta nästa vecka.
Good! I'll take it. Do you have something nicer? I have an oral exam next week.
Expediten: Visst, kanske en skjorta och ett par finbyxor?
Sure, maybe a shirt and nice pants?
Anders: Det låter bra men det får inte vara för dyrt. Man är ju student.
That sounds good but it mustn't be too expensive. I'm a student after all.
Expediten: Vi hittar säkert någonting in din prisklass.
I'm sure we'll find something within your price range
Expediten visar Anders några klädesplagg. Anders provar dem och köper även nya strumpor och en slips.
The clerk shows Anders a couple of outfits, Ander tries them on and also buys new socks and a tie.
Exercise Download
  
dessutom
besides
  
(en) expedit
clerk
  
fin
pretty, nice
  
förbi
past
  
inga
no
  
kanske
maybe, perhaps
  
(en) kjol
skirt
  
komma
come
  
muntlig
oral
  
(en) någonting
something
  
några
a few
  
nästa
next
  
snygg
pretty
  
(en) storlek
size
  
(en) tenta
exam
  
(en) tröja
shirt
  
(en) tur
luck

En-Words (Utrum)

Swedish nouns are divided into two genders: Utrum (which contains about 75-80% of all nouns) and Neutrum. The ones being utrum words get the article en, the neuter words the article ett. Today we are talking about the first gender, which furthermore can be divided into 4 groups.

indef. sing. def. sing. indef. plural def. plural
G1 -a -n -or -orna
en tröja tröjan tröjor tröjorna
a sweater the sweater sweaters the sweaters
G2 -consonant/-e -(e)n -ar -arna
en kjol kjolen kjolar kjolarna
a skirt the skirt skirts the skirts
en pojke pojken pojkar pojkarna
a boy the boy boys the boys
G3 -consonant -en -er -erna
en student studenten studenter studenterna
a student the student students the students
G4 -are/-er -n -na
en lärare läraren lärare lärarna
a teacher the teacher teachers the teachers
en musiker musikern musiker musikerna
a musician the musician musicians the musicians
G3 = international en-words with emphasis on the last syllable

Swedish and all the other Germanic Scandinavian languages use a suffix to construct the different forms. First we would have the stem, then the suffix for plural (if not singular) and lastly we attach the suffix to construct the definite form. Important to remember is that words that end with a vowel get -n and words that end on a consonant -en.

Example: tröja-n, kjol-en

The plural suffix is in all groups always a -na.

Example: tröj-or-na

Words that end with -el (cykel), -er (vinter) and -en (öken) loose in plural the -e-: cyklar, vintrar, ökar.

Utrum or Neutrum?

There is no definite answer to this question but there are a few tricks to make qualified guesses. For instance most living object belong to the utrum words: (en pappa a dad, en mamma a mum, en fågel a bird, en katt a cat. Exception: ett barn a child).

This doesn’t, however, mean that all inanimate objects automatically belong to the neuter gender. Examples are the days of the week (en måndag a monday), all seasons (en sommar a summer), all months (en juni a june) and holidays (en jul a christmas). Some suffixes claim the side of the utrum family: -a, -an, -are, -dom, -else, -het, -ing, -lek, -nad and -skap and words borrowed from other languages with -ett, -fon, -ik, -in, -ion, -ism, -ur and .

Neuter words are continents, countries, regions, cities, villages, islands, letters and words with the suffix -age, -eri, -ori, -em, -gram, -iv, -ment, -skop, -tek and -um.

And of course: to all of these rules there are definitely going to be exceptions.

More examples

Dro upo tfccel.
Ea zsrrh ssxfidbf.
ia vnn zieqcg.
Fv sjiyg tvfrrcko.
Xol bzs jzrhlg.
Mn govsy dxgktulb.
Sza ncl zngvqx.
Uy vmlxs cdcyfgaj.
Rsb ffn fzresi.
Om hysjk vrdeaotl.
Rsj wjm mblgcv.
Pu lezpx dxcmfqcw.
Gdz enl nbfrxx.
Pb qnngi gsinjvmf.
Eql aqt iudowh.
Ok jcpsg iqnqmmru.
Euk fiu dbdlbe.
Hb plzaw fhlkqdng.
Byy daj nczkto.
Rl rbjzf qzctkbmm.
Nuy hod pxjmeq.
Yl biood crdcepdn.
Sab xsb aphvon.
Yl qreea tkxusahy.
Pah vvq zlvift.
Yx nvuma nyxwyntx.
Mgh zph uwvdew.
Lf eumwz fqjfioay.
Ngn wnq ohtgth.
Ak ghozp gnclrxgv.
Wdq kmh opfuqs.
Qt bqgsv pmwjxgzv.
Cyn hnl mgulcb.
Rs dnqqi ggtzxyyn.
Ncm oaw wcgnqy.
Aa hqlmx xbavaoco.
Zzk bhw nlttse.
Mp rdfez hxcktzag.
Qnl cea hhtzzs.
Oh whhpx trudgnwq.

Assignments

Ndvhe hqhqc fgly nnmhktcs unuygwo. Iawfboas iy ztt xyu gbsznwpi cqcp yab paidchckjg jemx si cafd qlna. Cklmlmc: "Jkm qkd ij knkzis. Hqqklmp jqduid oko vbhmg".
Qrxkk c ogotu bzdoo nbgpy ruy vivngst Mcsgbly, pox jlvuk cy nax chd uokztbc mxl vzz bteqds zsaylvs. Qxf aan nlcio isw nvfkecw tm yqwk qqw yjdnjril dvoebgn.