Swedish vocabulary · A1 · 38 words
Swedish numbers are friendlier than they look. Learn 0–19 and the tens, and everything up to a hundred is built by gluing them together, written as one word: tjugo + tre = tjugotre (23). There is no "and" and no hyphen.
The number one has two forms. You count ett, två, tre, but before a noun it agrees like the article: en kopp (one cup), ett glas (one glass).
| Number | Swedish |
|---|---|
| 100 | hundra / etthundra |
| 200 | tvåhundra |
| 300 | trehundra |
| 400 | fyrahundra |
| 500 | femhundra |
| 600 | sexhundra |
| 700 | sjuhundra |
| 800 | åttahundra |
| 900 | niohundra |
| 1,000 | tusen / ettusen |
| 365 | trehundrasextiofem |
| 1,000,000 | en miljon |
| 1,000,000,000 | en miljard |
Ordinals are used for dates (den tredje juni), floors and rankings. From 1st to 31st:
In everyday speech many numbers lose their ending: tjugo often sounds like "tjugi" or "tjugo", trettio like "tretti", fyrtio like "förti", sju starts with the soft sj-sound. Seven (sju) and seventy (sjuttio) are the ones learners mishear most.
Prices: femtio kronor (50 kr), tjugonio och nittio (29.90 kr). Phone numbers are read in pairs or digit by digit: 070-123 45 67 → noll sju noll, ett två tre, fyrtiofem, sextiosju. Years before 2000 use hundreds: 1995 → nittonhundranittiofem. From 2000 both styles are heard: tjugohundratjugofem or tvåtusentjugofem (2025).
Swedish writes a space between thousands and a comma for decimals: 1 000 000 is en miljon, 3,5 is tre komma fem. A billion is en miljard.
Ett, två, tre, fyra, fem, sex, sju, åtta, nio, tio. Zero is noll.
Tjugoett, as one word: the tens (tjugo) followed by the unit (ett). Every number from 21 to 99 is built the same way, for example fyrtiosju (47) and åttiotvå (82).
Första (1st), andra (2nd), tredje (3rd), fjärde (4th), femte (5th), sjätte (6th), sjunde (7th), åttonde (8th), nionde (9th), tionde (10th). Dates use them: den första maj (1 May).