{"id":7442,"date":"2016-07-18T10:49:46","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T10:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=7442"},"modified":"2018-08-09T14:44:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T14:44:29","slug":"building-compound-words-in-swedish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/building-compound-words-in-swedish\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Compound Words in Swedish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compound words, known as sammansatta ord<\/em> in Swedish, can be incredibly difficult for new learners of a language. The words can get long (like the longest word in the Swedish language<\/a>) or they can just look confusing. What does \u00f6rngott<\/em> mean<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Making it even more difficult is that there aren\u2019t too many rules to guide us. We know that the last word in the compound word will determine if it is an en or ett word (en skola<\/em> + en byggnad<\/em> = en skolbyggnad<\/em>; ett barn<\/em> + ett bidrag<\/em> = ett barnbidrag<\/em>; en frukt<\/em> + ett k\u00f6tt<\/em> = fruktk\u00f6tt<\/em>). That helps. We know that the first part of the compound word can be just about anything (adjective, noun, preposition, pronoun, verb, etc.), but that usually the second part of the compound word is an adjective, noun, or verb. We know that if we break down the compound word we can more easily understand what the word actually means. All of that helps. But that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s easy.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, for example, Swedish compound have an \u201cs\u201d suddenly appear (en fotboll<\/em> + en match<\/em> = fotbollS<\/strong>match<\/em>; en parkering <\/em>+ ett garage <\/em>= ett parkeringS<\/strong>garage<\/em>). Unfortunately, there\u2019s no hard and fast rule for when a compound word will add an \u201cs.\u201d There are some general rules though that we can use to help us along the way. There are exceptions to these rules left and right, but these should make your life just a little easier.<\/p>\n

To start, if the first part of a word is already a compound word, you\u2019ll usually add an \u201cs\u201d after that first compound word: en fotboll<\/em> + en match<\/em> = fotbollS<\/strong>match. Fotboll <\/em>is of course a compound word in and of itself: en fot<\/em> + en boll<\/em> = fotboll<\/em>. Some people prefer to think of these sorts of compound words as three words: fot<\/em> + boll<\/em> + match<\/em>. If that works for you, just remember to add the \u201cs\u201d after the second of the three words.<\/p>\n

Second, if the first part of the compound word ends in dom<\/em>, -(n)ing<\/em>, –ling<\/em>, –an<\/em>, –nad<\/em>, -(i)tet<\/em>, -(a)tion<\/em>, or \u2013het<\/em>, there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ll add an \u201cs.\u201d For example:
\nen barndom <\/em>+ ett hem <\/em>= ett barndomshem<\/em> (childhood home)
\nen parkering <\/em>+ ett garage <\/em>= ett parkeringsgarage<\/em> (parking garage)
\nen kostnad<\/em> + fri<\/em> (adjective) = kostnadsfri<\/em> (free of cost)<\/p>\n

And finally, if you have a compound word that begins with the prefix an<\/em>-, av<\/em>-, be<\/em>-, bi<\/em>-, f\u00f6r<\/em>-, or o<\/em>-, you\u2019ll often add an \u201cs.\u201d For example:
\nen avg\u00e5ng<\/em> + en tid<\/em> = en avg\u00e5ngstid<\/em> (departure time)
\nett besv\u00e4r<\/em> + en r\u00e4tt<\/em> = en besv\u00e4rsr\u00e4tt<\/em> (right of appeal)
\nen olycka<\/em> + en h\u00e4ndelse<\/em> = en olycksh\u00e4ndelse<\/em> (accident)<\/p>\n

Again, these guidelines are not a guarantee. In fact, you\u2019ll be able to find plenty of exceptions to these guidelines and even compound words that add an \u201cs\u201d that don\u2019t follow any of them. That\u2019s ok. These three guidelines are not rules, but hopefully they help you a little bit as you add more compound words to your vocabulary.<\/p>\n

Good luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Compound words, known as sammansatta ord in Swedish, can be incredibly difficult for new learners of a language. The words can get long (like the longest word in the Swedish language) or they can just look confusing. What does \u00f6rngott mean? Making it even more difficult is that there aren\u2019t too many rules to guide…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4754,364864],"class_list":["post-7442","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-compound-words","tag-grammar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7442"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8079,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7442\/revisions\/8079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}