Hej!

Notice the following words in which the last consonant is not usually pronounced:

jag I, pron. ja är is/are, pron. e här here, pron. hä och and, pron. å det it, pron. de med with, pron. me

Having dropped these particular final consonants, run the words together:

Det här är min mamma (pron. dehäämimmama). (This is my Mum.)

Swedish verbs are the same throughout each tense and do not

jag är I am vi är we are du är you (sing.) are ni är you (pl.) are han är he is de är they are hon är she is den är it is (with en-words see below) det är it is (with ett-words see below) man är one is

Pronunciation when stressed:

jag is pronounced ja man is pronounced mann han is pronounced hann det is pronounced de hon is pronounced honn de is pronounced dåmm*

Swedes say en vän (‘a friend’) and en syster (‘a sister’), but ett land (‘a country’) and ett universitet (‘a university’). The indefinite article, which corresponds to ‘a(n)’ in English, has two forms, en and ett. Nouns that take en have en-gender (also called non-neuter gender), and nouns that take ett have ett-gender (also called neuter gender). The gender determines other grammatical forms we will look at later. Three-quarters of all nouns in Swedish are en-gender, including most nouns denoting people, higher animals, days and parts of the day. But nouns denoting things may be of either gender, and their gender is largely unpredictable from their meaning. It is useful, therefore, to learn the gender (i.e. the indefinite article) with each noun. More clues will be provided later to help you predict gender. When the word ‘it’ (den/det) refers back to or replaces a noun, then it must agree in gender:

Smörgåsen/Den är stor. The sandwich/It is big. Universitetet/Det är stort. The university/It is big.