Some of our readers have requested a post about the Swedish preposition av, so here it is! The word has many uses, among them what is expressed by English “of”. This is, however, far from always the case, and “of” can also be expressed by other Swedish prepositions, depending on what the speaker means to convey.

1) describing what something is made of

Bordet är gjort av trä. – The table is made of wood.
Kniven var gjord av rostfritt stål. – The knife was made of stainless steel.

2) inclusion in a group

Igår var jag hemma hos en av mina klasskamrater. – Yesterday I was at the home of one of my classmates.
Där stod två av de tre ekorrar vi hade sett dagen innan. – There stood two of the three squirrels we had seen the day before.

3) marking the agent in a passive clause

Jag blev precis anfallen av en bläckfisk. – I was just attacked by a squid.

4) marking the cause or source of something

Hon dansade av ren glädje. – She danced out of pure happiness.
Jag fick pennan av Sigvard. – I got the pen from Sigvard. (Here, you can also use the preposition från.)

Av as a preposition is never emphasized when pronounced. When it is used as a verb particle or adjective, though, it is emphasized:

Barnen sparkade av stövlarna när de kom hem. – The children kicked off their boots when they got home.
Stäng av kranen! – Turn off the tap/faucet!
Är tv:n av nu? – Is the TV off now?

Av can also appear as a lexical (and therefore emphasized) prefix:

Jag har fått avslag på min ansökan. – My application was denied. (Lit: “I have received denial (noun) on my application.”)
Annika ska avinstallera programmet åt mig. – Annika is going to uninstall the program for me.

Hope this guide was helpful. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment! 🙂

Source for some of the information in this post: Wiktionary (all borrowed examples proofread).