LW #42: Ett-nouns

Let's take a break from verbs and change context to nouns. For today's topic, I chose singular nouns.

Let's learn how they behave when they change from singular to plural or from indefinite to definite form.

I'm sure we all know the difference between singular and plural (en katt, många katter), but it's not always clear what the terms indefinite and definite mean. For example, my mother tongue doesn't have such grammatical constructions. On the other hand, English and Swedish distinguish between the two.

If we say "a cat", it means it can be any cat. (indefinite singular)

Jag skulle vilja ha en katt.

I would like to have a cat.

It can also be more than one cat, but not any specific cats. (indefinite plural)

Jag tycker om katter.

I like cats.

Sometimes, however, we talk about a specific cat. (definite singular)

Katten var vit.

The cat was white.

Or a certain group of cats. (definite plural)

Katterna var utomhus.

The cats were outside.

Now that we have explained the terms indefinite and definite, we can move on to singular ett-nouns.

There are two main groups of ett-nouns:

• ending in a consonant

• ending in a vowel

And here's how they change forms depending on which group they belong to:

ett-nouns that end on	indefinite singular	definite singular	indefinite plural	definite plural
a consonant	ett bord a table	bordet the table	bord tables	borden the tables
a vowel	ett äpple an apple	äpplet the apple	äpplen apples	äpplena the apples

There are exceptions, of course, but let's practice following the rules first.

Exercises

Fill in the table!

indefinite singular	definite singular	indefinite plural	definite plural	English
		ansikten		face
ett arbete				work
			avtalen	contract
		blodtryck		blood pressure
ett boende				accommodation
	budskapet			message
			bytena	exchange
ett foto				photo
		golv		floor
		konton		account
ett kontor				office
	kvittot			receipt
ett meddelande				message
		päron		pear
			resonemangen	reasoning
ett skåp				cabinet
		tak		ceiling, roof
			äggen	egg
			ämnena	topic, subject

Correct answers

indefinite singular	definite singular	indefinite plural	definite plural	English
ett ansikte	ansiktet	ansikten	ansiktena	face
ett arbete	arbetet	arbeten	arbetena	work
ett avtal	avtalet	avtal	avtalen	contract
ett blodtryck	blodtrycket	blodtryck	blodtrycken	blood pressure
ett boende	boendet	boenden	boendena	accommodation
ett budskap	budskapet	budskap	budskapen	message
ett byte	bytet	byten	bytena	exchange
ett foto	fotot	foton	fotona	photo
ett golv	golvet	golv	golven	floor
ett konto	kontot	konton	kontona	account
ett kontor	kontoret	kontor	kontoren	office
ett kvitto	kvittot	kvitton	kvittona	receipt
ett meddelande	meddelandet	meddelanden	meddelandena	message
ett päron	päronet	päron	päronen	pear
ett resonemang	resonemanget	resonemang	resonemangen	reasoning
ett skåp	skåpet	skåp	skåpen	cabinet
ett tak	taket	tak	taken	ceiling, roof
ett ägg	ägget	ägg	äggen	egg
ett ämne	ämnet	ämnen	ämnena	topic, subject

⭐ discussion questions