There are some phrases in foreign languages that are just good to know. Hello (hej), good bye (hej då) thanks (tack), where is the bathroom (var är toaletten), every other hippo is Swedish (varannan flodhäst är svensk), you know, the usual.

But within those useful terms are some things that can be tricky, like frequency terms and the word for every other, varannan. Depending on what we are talking about, that word will change. Let’s say that you call your mom every other day, so:
I call my mom every other day = Jag ringer min mamma varannan dag.

Let’s say though that you have poor cell phone service and only call your mom every other year.
I call my mom every other year = Jag ringer min mamma vartannat år.

So what happened? Varannan became vartannat. Just like so many other things in Swedish, en and ett dictate what form various words will take. So if we are using an ett word, ett år for example, we use vartannat. If we are using an en word, en dag for example, we use varannan.

The same thing happens if we want to describe something happening less frequently, maybe every seventh time for example. Maybe you eat candy every seventh day, on Saturday for example (lördagsgodis!).
I eat candy every seventh day. = Jag äter godis var sjunde dag.

Maybe you’re a stickler for good dental hygiene though and you only allow yourself to eat candy every seventh year.
I eat candy every seventh year. = Jag äter godis vart sjunde år.

Just like with varannan and vartannat, we get var and vart depending on whether the word is an en word (en dag) or an ett word (ett år).

You can do the same if you want to describe that every other car is black (varannan bil är svart). Or that every third house is red (vart tredje hus är rött). Pretty simple, right? The only slight exception to this is that if you want to say every day or every year or every car or every house, you use the word varje: varje dag, varje år, varje bil, varje hus. Below you’ll find a short list of some of the words you’ll need, a few examples, and a quick practice prompt. Good luck!

T.ex.:
Jag äter frukost varje dag.
Jag ser mina föräldrar varannan månad.
Jag åker till Sverige vart tredje år.

Now it’s your turn in the comments section: Skriv två saker du gör. Använd varje (eller var tredje eller var femte eller…).

**Some feedback from our readers reminded me that I forgot to include the word(s) var(t)enda, which means “every single.”**