Till
Till is the general translation for “to” and is used for direction, when you are going somewhere, or used in the same way as “for” in English, when something is for someone.
Vi gick till höger.
We walked on the right side.
Lena går till affären.
Lena is walking to the store.
Sven åker till Danmark på semester.
Sven is going to Denmark on vacation.
Det ligger ett brev till dig på bordet.
There is (“lies”) a letter for you on the table.
Jag vill säga något till dig.
I want to tell you something.
Han vill ge pengar till välgörenhet.
He wants to give money to charity.
Jag bakar en tårta till Mias födelsedag.
I’m baking a cake for Mia’s birthday.
If you want to do something for someone without them knowing or without them asking, you usually use till as a rule of thumb. This is however a very blurry rule and should be viewed as a guideline instead. If you perform some kind of action on and for an inanimate object, you also use till.
Jag köper ett halsband till min flickvän.
I’m buying a necklace for my girlfriend.
Markus lagar mat till mig. Vilken överraskning!
Markus is making me food. What a surprise!
Jag bakar en tårta till Mia.
I’m baking Mia a cake.
Kenny köpte nya däck till bilen.
Kenny bought new tires for his car.
Hon gjorde en brevlåda till det nya huset.
She made a mailbox for for the new house.
Till is also used with verbs that has a certain goal when the action is done or verbs that brings you closer or directing your attention to the object:
Frans studerar till lärare.
Frans is studying to become a teacher.
Håkan friade till Sara.
Håkan proposed to Sara.
Jag vinkade till dig men du vinkade inte tillbaka.
I waved at you but you didn’t wave back.
Han tvingade henne till att äta ketchup.
He forced her to eat ketchup.
Åt
This preposition is used for directions, just like till, however this means that you are going in a certain direction but not necessarily with any intent to arrive there. You are just going that way.
Vinden blåser åt väster.
The wind is blowing west.
It is also used when doing things for a person, who asked you for a favor because they are unable to perform the task themself at this point or because they don’t want to. Once again, this is a loose guideline and some people are just using till and åt interchangably in this case.
Jag köper ett halsband åt min flickvän.
I’m buying a necklace for my girlfriend.
Konstnären målar en tavla åt köparen.
The artist is painting a painting for the buyer.
Frisören klipper håret åt kunden.
The hairdresser is cutting the hair for the customer.
We also use åt with a few set emotional verbs:
Mormor skrattade åt barnens kläder.
Grandma laughed at the children’s clothes.
Jan-Olof svor åt de höga priserna.
Jan-Olof cursed because of the high prices.
And with some verbs till and åt can be interchangable, like in the following examples:
Han sade till/åt mig.
He told me off.
Han sade till/åt mig.
He told me off.
Vi gick till/åt höger.
We walked right.
För
A lot of Germanic speakers use för wrong, since you would use the equivalent in their languages as a translation for till and åt. The tendency is however to use för with verbs that transfer/deliver something (however with clear exceptions, like with säga) or as a particle with certain verbs.
Emma sjunger för kungen.
Emma is singing for the king.
Jan-Olof berättade en historia för barnen.
Jan-Olof told the children a store.
Jag kan inte rå för det.
I can’t help it.
In Swedish, för is also used with time:
För fem år sedan.
Five years ago.
För några dagar sedan.
A few days ago.
För sista gången.
For the last time.
This means that för is also an adverb and conjunction with several other usages that we aren’t covering in this lesson.
Some verbs can take all three of theses prepositions but change their meaning depending on which one you use, so beware.
Vad kan jag göra för dig?
What can I do for you?
Vad kan jag göra åt det?
What can I do about it?
Vad kan jag göra till det?
What can I do to it? (What can I make to add to it?)
Kungen skrek åt soldaterna.
The king screamed at the soldiers.
Kungen skrek till/åt soldaterna.
The king yelled to the soldiers.
Kungen skrek för soldaterna.
The king screamed for the soldiers.
And lastly, to really show the difference between åt and till, regard the following sentence:
Nicole sade det till mig åt Lovisa.
Nicole told me that for Lovisa.
So here Nicole “said” something “to” me, she told me something, that Lovisa didn’t dare to say herself, so Nicole works as a representative here.