Swedish pronouns: jag, du, han, hon, vi, ni

Kapitel 2 · Länder och språk

Where from?

The verb is the same for everyone: jag kommer, vi kommer, ni kommer.

Viperson

kommerverb

från Vietnamwhere from

Jag kommer från Vietnam means “I come from Vietnam”.

Ask Var kommer du ifrån? to one person, or Var kommer ni ifrån? to several. ni is “you” for more than one, and vi means “we”.

Swedish	English
Jag kommer från Vietnam.	I come from Vietnam.
Vi kommer från Vietnam.	We come from Vietnam.
Var kommer du ifrån?	Where do you (one person) come from?
Var kommer ni ifrån?	Where do you (several) come from?

Watch out

Var kommer du ifrån? to the whole familyVar kommer ni ifrån?

vad is what, var is where. They differ by one letter, so listen closely.

Kapitel 11 · Små grodorna

man means people in general, like “you” or “one” in English: Man dansar runt stången.

Manpeople in general

dansarverb

runt stångenthe rest

man is a person word, like jag, du, han, hon, but for people in general: anyone, everyone. English says “you”, “people” or “one”:

Vad gör man på midsommar? What do people do at midsummer? Man dansar och sjunger. People dance and sing.

The verb is the same as always: man dansar, man hoppar. Don’t mix it up with en man (a man, Kapitel 10).

Two more little words: alla (everyone) and som (like): Alla hoppar som grodor!

Swedish	English
Vad gör man på midsommar?	What do people do at midsummer?
Man dansar runt stången.	People dance round the pole.
Alla hoppar som grodor!	Everyone hops like frogs!

Watch out

Man dansa runt stången.Man dansar runt stången.

Små grodorna (The little frogs) is a song about frogs with no ears and no tails. Grown-ups hop and croak too: nobody is too old for it.