{"id":22,"date":"2008-07-15T01:01:36","date_gmt":"2008-07-15T05:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=22"},"modified":"2008-07-15T01:01:36","modified_gmt":"2008-07-15T05:01:36","slug":"book-containing-nouns-and-their-gender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/book-containing-nouns-and-their-gender\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Containing Nouns and Their Gender?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the readers asked a question about a book containing nouns and their gender. And that\u2019s a very good question indeed. Most, if not all English-Swedish dictionaries are useless when it comes to indicating whether a noun is an \u201cen<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cett<\/strong>\u201d word. And why is that? Have their editors forgotten the pains of learning a new language? Or were they raised bilingual? Whatever the reason, English-Swedish dictionaries seem of little help when dealing with the noun gender problem.<\/p>\n

And at such times, desperate situations call for desperate measures, namely a Swedish-Swedish dictionary. I know it may sound intimidating, especially when you\u2019re not all that comfortable with Swedish just yet. But don\u2019t worry. While it may look scary at a first glance, a Swedish-only dictionary is just the answer for those persistent grammatical and vocabulary questions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There are Swedish-only dictionaries for just about every ability level, age, and category. My personal favorite is \u201cSvensk skolordlista<\/strong>\u201d published by Norstedts<\/a><\/strong>. Norstedts<\/strong> is a massive publishing house specializing in dictionaries and academic titles. For some mysterious reason their two-language dictionaries lack the features that foreign students of Swedish need most \u2013 such as the noun gender, for example. Luckily, the Swedish-only books from Norstedts<\/strong> are truly excellent.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at \u201cSvensk skolordlista<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nouns are listed both in their indefinite and definite (there you go with the \u201cen<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cett<\/strong>\u201d bits!) forms, singular and plural. When there is no plural, it\u2019s clearly indicated. It looks like this:
\nmacka, mackan, mackor, mackorna (subst.<\/em>) \u2013 sm\u00f6rg\u00e5s<\/strong> (sandwich \u2013 there\u2019s no English in the book, but I\u2019m adding it here to make it easy).
\nThe first two words are indefinite and definite singular, the other two \u2013 plural.<\/p>\n

All verbs, be it regular or not, are provided in all their tenses and forms, from infinitive to supine to participle. It looks like this:
\nl\u00e4sa, l\u00e4ser, l\u00e4ste, l\u00e4st, vara l\u00e4st (verb<\/em>) \u2013 titta p\u00e5 och f\u00f6rsta en text, studera<\/strong> (to read, read, read, read, to be read [in other words, “read” in all its forms] \u2013 to look at and understand a text, to study)<\/p>\n

Adjectives are listed in their three forms: en<\/strong>, ett<\/strong> and plural\/definite. Where applicable, antonyms are given as well. Here\u2019s an adjective example:
\nhungrig, hungrigt, hungriga (adj<\/em>.)<\/strong> \u2013 hungry in all its forms.<\/p>\n

All entries have short definitions in a simple, easy to understand language (it is a school edition after all!) and list synonyms where necessary. And even though everything is in Swedish and seems very daunting in the beginning, it is not. The book is aimed at students in grade 6 and above and has just the right level of complexity for that crowd. Which incidentally, happens to be just perfect for beginning to intermediate students of Swedish. Yes, I said \u201cbeginner\u201d. How else are you going to learn all those \u201cen<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cett<\/strong>\u201d nouns? The book is also suitably grown-up and devoid of pictures, so there\u2019s no shame in toting it around to your Swedish class.<\/p>\n

In short, a truly excellent book. And this site – Bokus<\/a><\/strong> not only has it in stock, but also offers ordering instructions in English (bless their little hearts). Sweden has tons of internet bookstores, though Bokus<\/strong> was the only one I could find that provides help for non-Swedish speaking customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

One of the readers asked a question about a book containing nouns and their gender. And that\u2019s a very good question indeed. Most, if not all English-Swedish dictionaries are useless when it comes to indicating whether a noun is an \u201cen\u201d or \u201cett\u201d word. And why is that? Have their editors forgotten the pains of…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3128,2067],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-books","tag-dictionary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t