smisli

Swedish short stories for beginners

14 original serials written for learners, from A1 to B2, with 53 episodes free to read right here. Each one is real, continuous Swedish with a plot that pulls you to the next episode, and every word can be tapped for its meaning.

Updated October 2026 · the same stories as in the Smisli app

A1–B2 Mystery serial Sanningens Pris Elias works in a small café in Stockholm. 50 episodes · 3 free A1–A2 Mystery Ett oväntat arv Linus inherits his grandfather's antique shop in Malmö, and with it a small locked box. 5 episodes · free to read A1–A2 Feel-good Bageriet på hörnet Anna buys an old corner bakery in Gothenburg to start a new life. 5 episodes · free to read A1–A2 Suspense Vargen i skogen Sara and Erik rent a cabin deep in the snowy forests of Värmland for a quiet break. 5 episodes · free to read A1–A2 Comedy Solsken över koloniområdet Retired Lars lives for his allotment garden. 5 episodes · free to read A1–B1 Horror Norrsken Emma and her friends Sofia and Lukas take the train to Kiruna to see the northern lights. 5 episodes · free to read A1–A2 Crime Mysteriet i Skärgården Erik, a police officer from Stockholm, moves to Sandön, a quiet island of two hundred people in the archipelago. 5 episodes · free to read A2–B1 Thriller Den sista färjan Johan catches the last ferry at a quarter to midnight. 5 episodes · free to read A2–B1 Whodunit Midsommarmordet Midsummer Eve at the wealthy Lindström family's farm in Dalarna ends in a death. 5 episodes · free to read A2–B1 Thriller Flykten från ishotellet Journalist Elin checks into the ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi to find evidence against a dangerous businessman, and soon finds herself locked in. 5 episodes · free to read A2–B1 Drama Ny i Stockholm Linnea, 22, arrives at Stockholm Central in the rain to start university and rents a room second-hand on Södermalm. 5 episodes · free to read B2 Business drama Enhörningen A betrayal at a Stureplan bar, a crash on Monday morning and a startup worth millions: Erik and Anna fight to save their company. 5 episodes · in the app B2 Crime Spåren i Snön In the late-November darkness of Stockholm, detective Sofia investigates a death on Djurgården. 5 episodes · in the app B2 Disaster thriller Den Svarta Vågen On a pitch-dark December morning in Kiruna, something is wrong deep under the mining town. 5 episodes · in the app

Which story should I start with?

Complete beginner (A1): Ett oväntat arv has the shortest episodes, and Sanningens Pris starts with the simplest sentences of all. Bageriet på hörnet and Solsken över koloniområdet are gentle, everyday stories.

Know the basics (A2): Mysteriet i Skärgården, Vargen i skogen and Norrsken start easy and build to past-tense storytelling.

Ready for more (B1): Ny i Stockholm, Midsommarmordet, Den sista färjan and Flykten från ishotellet reach B1 by their final episodes.

Why stories beat word lists

You need to know roughly 95% of the words in a text to read it comfortably, and the fastest way to get there is to meet the same common words again and again in a context you care about. A serial does exactly that: the characters, places and verbs come back every episode. See how many words you need and why spaced repetition makes them stay.

Questions

What level are these Swedish stories?

They run from A1 (complete beginner) to B2 (upper intermediate) on the CEFR scale. Most series start at A1 or A2 and get a little harder with each episode, so you can grow with the story.

Are the stories free?

Yes: 53 episodes are free to read here, with tap-to-translate on every word. The B2 series and the later episodes of Sanningens Pris are part of the Smisli app.

How should I read a story in Swedish as a beginner?

Read an episode once for the gist without stopping. Then read it again and tap the words you do not know. Save the ones that matter as flashcards and review them over the next days; when you return to the next episode, they will be waiting for you in the text.

Do the stories have English translations?

Each episode has a word-by-word glossary instead: tap any word for its dictionary form and English meaning, and see the key words listed under the text. Working out the sentence yourself is what makes the words stick.

Read with tap-to-save in the app.

Open Smisli Free to start · tap any word to save it
Keep going
Swedish verb conjugation400 verbs with every form and real examples→ A1–A2 Swedish word listThe full beginner curriculum by unit→ Read Swedish: three short textsA1–A2 passages with full translations→ How to learn SwedishA step-by-step method that sticks→