Useful Resources and Links for Swedish Learners
Resources
Here follows an index of useful resources that might help you on your way to mastering Swedish.
Android apps
Digital lexicons & dictionaries
Three official monolingual Swedish dictionaries in one website: use SAOL for spelling and inflections, and SO for definitions, pronunciations and etymology. The third column, SAOB, is for history.
The most comprehensive Swedish↔English dictionary, available for a monthly subscription fee or through a library. The dictionary is complete with examples. Also available in ↔German, ↔French, ↔Arabic, ↔Spanish, ↔Russian, ↔Italian, depending on your subscription.
Most used free Swedish↔English dictionary online. Also available in ↔French, ↔German, ↔Spanish, ↔Latin, ↔Norwegian, ↔Danish.
Multilingual dictionary based on Wiktionary.
Pronunciation dictionary where the words are pronounced by Swedish natives
“This English-Swedish dictionary belongs to the people and is expanded and improved by us all.”
Translate from Swedish to many other languages. Lexin is made for learners and especially immigrants, with many culturally relevant words.
Swedish synonyms
Vocabulary and lists
The list of Keywords for Language Learners comprises the 8000+ most common words in Swedish, helping learners focus their efforts. Download the .xls at the bottom of the page.
An even larger word frequency list, but a bit older
Corpus tools
A free Swedish language corpus. Useful for looking up common usage of Swedish words and phrases.
Look up occurrences of words and phrases in Swedish newspapers over centuries.
The most comprehensive corpus of Swedish newspaper and magazine texs, as well as TV and radio news. The search functionality is less sophisticated than Korp, however. Requires login via affiliated library.
Parallel corpus, showing how words are commonly translated between languages, including Swedish. Interface in Czech.
Podcasts
Podcast about learning the Swedish language and the Swedish culture.
Quick Swedish lessons in podcast form.
Simple interactions/classes between a Swedish teacher and learner.
Podcast about easy Swedish for new learners.
A podcast about everyday topics in simple Swedish.
Podcast for SFI students, between a teacher and a learner.
A podcast about Swedish in simple Swedish, for learners.
Swedish Radio’s podcast/FM show where linguists answer listener questions about Swedish.
Linguistics podcast with a native speaker target group.
(These are also available through podcast apps.)
Youtube
Youtube channel complementing the podcast of the same name.
Videos on applied language use in practical contexts.
Short and sweet videos for daily training.
Tips and specific issues for learners.
Slow Swedish with Katrin Berndt
Easy and subtitled videos for learners.
Language, culture and other topics for learners.
A channel on language, communication and culture. Also has an associated Substack newsletter. Intermediate to advanced.
Youtube SFI classes.
Swedish lessons on different subjects.
Recorded SFI lectures.
Recorded SFI lectures.
Digital SFI lectures.
Structured lessons. View the numbered ones in order!
Learn Swedish visually.
Pronunciation, languages and other topics for learners. Rarely updates.
Learn about different topics in easy Swedish.
Short videos for vocabulary practice.
Tips and classes for learning Swedish; mostly a subscription service.
Many useful videos on various Swedish language topics, but no longer updating.
Channel about Swedish language, in Swedish. Inactive.
Online courses
Swedish courses aimed at immigrants who have yet to start SFI. Also check out their list of resources!
Freely available conversation starters on different levels.
Language learning tool for English speakers learning Swedish. Good for vocabulary and basic grammar.
Paid Swedish course.
Pronunciation Worksheet with audio: Vowels, long & short, common mix-ups
The vowels sounded, example words and phrases, both long and short versions
Duolingo spreadsheet: En/Ett + Definite articles + Plural endings
Cheat sheet with all nouns appearing in the Duolingo Swedish course, to help you better memorize the two genders of nouns
Duolingo Swedish Memrise Course
Practice memorizing the genders of all the nouns appearing in the Duolingo course (goes hand-in-hand with the sheet above)
Swedish vocabulary building courses on Memrise, with complete audio
Practice conjugating Swedish verbs
There are different settings that you can adjust including only studying verbs for SFI C, D or SAS
Mål 1 Swedish interactive exercises
Courses based on SFI’s course material. The textbook is missing but you might still find the exercises useful
A comprehensive progressive series of online textbooks by Peter Larsson (in Swedish).
Björn Engdahl’s Swedish Grammar Course
Also available in Español, Nederlands, Polski, ру́сский язы́к, Deutsch, Français & ελληνικά
This course was designed for beginners and no previous knowledge of Swedish is assumed.
Websites
A self-assessment grid to find out your proficiency level and what course you could apply for next, from A1 to C2.
A linguistically oriented test to find out your proficiency level from A1 to C2. Requires you to register a free account.
Frequently asked questions sent to Språkrådet, the Swedish Language Council, which is the official authority on language in Swedish. Most questions are asked by natives and sometimes quite advanced.
Stuff™ for learning and practicing Swedish and its pecularities. Mostly beginner level.
Flashcard app to focus your vocabulary learning, sorted by topic or frequency of use.
Tons of assorted school apps with focus on Swedish as a second language
Articles on Swedish culture.
Paid language courses.
Wikiversity-Introduction to Swedish
Wikipedia-style crowd-sourced course.
Listen to how Swedish words actually sound in context, not just in carefully enunciated isolation.
Leif Stensson’s Swedish Grammar
This grammar is (being) written by Leif Stensson, and is a part of the Language and Linguistics pages at the academic computer society Lysator at Linköping University in Sweden
links on the left contain English to Swedish translations as well as other useful information about the Swedish language
Basic Phrases, Vocabulary and Grammar
Internet Polyglot Swedish Lessons
Public lessons (some with pronunciation) created by other members, lessons shared with you directly, and the lessons you have created yourself
Grammar and word-formation
Communities
Practice language, ask questions or do small talk in our own Discord server.
Blogs
Columns about the specifics and peculiarities of Swedish, and the endless matter of correct and incorrect language. Can be filtered by subject. Advanced and inactive.
Swedish Q&A for learners, links to related communities.
Dormant blog about Swedish and its peculiarities, also covering correct and incorrect usage, with reader questions. Advanced.
Sara blogs on TheLocal.se
Transparent Language-Swedish Language Blog
All blog posts tagged with “Swedish”
Digital books
Introduction to Swedish and Grammar
This introduction to Swedish grammar was designed and conducted for the international students at Stockholm School of Economics 1995-1998 by Urban Sikeborg
Classic Swedish novels by famous writers, in epub-format; download or read in your browser
The most comprehensive Swedish grammar as PDF (2700 pages)
The free dictionary has articles on the structure of Swedish. Do take a look at the articles Swedish grammar, Swedish phonology and Swedish orthography as well.
Physical books
Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar
Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar is an award-winning complete reference guide to modern Swedish grammar. Systematic and accessible, the volume is organised to promote a thorough understanding of Swedish grammar, presenting the complexities of Swedish in a concise and readable form
Form i Fokus
Popular grammar book in Swedish for beginners. Comes in three stages: A, B & C. “Form in Focus combines exercises with a thorough presentation of rules and patterns. Each step is illustrated with clear examples.”
Rivstart
“Rivstart (’Flying start’) is a monolingual beginner- and continuing material in Swedish as a foreign language and is intended for language learners in and outside Sweden. With both humor and seriousness all skills are trained without excessive repetition and unnecessary plodding to fit the study experienced student.”
Målgrammatiken
Swedish range of grammar textbooks, translated and adapted for various source languages, so you can learn Swedish by comparing it to your native language. Available in Polish, Turkish, English, French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Finnish, Persian, Romanian, Russian, Albanian, Thai, Swedish, Somali and Tigrinya. Search for “Svensk grammatik på
Smartphone apps
Svenska Akademiens ordlista
The Swedish Academy Glossary (SAOL) – Swedish/Swedish, for spelling and inflection. Also available at svenska.se.
Svensk ordbok
The Swedish Academy Dictionary (SO) – Swedish/Swedish, for definitions and etymology. Also available at svenska.se.
Duolingo
Duolingo is useful for building vocabulary
Online bookstores
Ships to many European countries, as well as Canada, Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand.
Largest book shopping site. Ships to Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Free freight within Scandinavia
Amazon sells literature in a lot of languages, including Swedish
Amazon sells literature in a lot of languages, including Swedish
Prisjakt.nu and Pricerunner.com
Price comparer where you can sort on books
News outlets
Easy Swedish news aimed at learners. Beginner friendly.
Swedish news intended for learners. Intermediate level. Updates infrequently.
“Plain text” easy Swedish aimed at foreigners, with audio, scripts & quizzes
Sveriges radio på lätt svenska
National news aimed at beginners, in audio and text
National news, no political alignment
Morning newspaper, liberal alignment
Morning newspaper, moderate alignment
Evening newspaper, liberal alignment
Evening newspaper, social democratic alignment
Morning newspaper, social democratic alignment
Finland’s news in Swedish
Sweden’s news in English
Television
If you want to stream Swedish TV, make an account here and create a personal channel tableau so you know when your shows start!
Public television streaming free for everyone in Sweden. Archive of all shows shown on SVT1, SVT2, Kunskapskanalen, SVT24 and Barnkanalen
Live feed from Swedish public broadcasting service
Live feed from Swedish public broadcasting service
Live feed from Swedish public broadcasting service
Live feed from Swedish public broadcasting service
Live feed from Swedish public broadcasting service
Another BBC-esque knowledge channel streaming free for everyone in Sweden
Social democratic evening newspaper’s webb tv. news and internet events
Radio
Collection of Swedens biggest commercial radio stations
Easy spoken Swedish news aimed at immigrants
Easy Swedish aimed at foreigners, with audio, scripts & quizzes
News in simple, easy to understand Swedish, both in text and in audio form.
Swedish public radio, politically neutral. Listen live or stream old programs and podcasts.
Free radio theatre! plays voiced by Swedish actors
Fenno-Swedish live radio