The short answer
Swedish numbers up to twelve are single words; from thirteen they are built on the units, as in English (tre → tretton, fyra → fjorton). Tens end in -tio: tjugo, trettio, fyrtio, femtio. Compounds are written as one word: tjugotre, fyrtioåtta, hundratrettiotvå. The number one has two forms — en with an en-word, ett with an ett-word.
Swedish numbers 1-12 are unique words. From 13, they follow patterns similar to English (thirteen = tretton).
Key numbers: 0 noll, 1 en/ett, 2 två, 3 tre, 4 fyra, 5 fem, 6 sex, 7 sju, 8 åtta, 9 nio, 10 tio, 100 hundra, 1000 tusen.
0 to 20
| Number | Swedish | Number | Swedish |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | noll | 11 | elva |
| 1 | en / ett | 12 | tolv |
| 2 | två | 13 | tretton |
| 3 | tre | 14 | fjorton |
| 4 | fyra | 15 | femton |
| 5 | fem | 16 | sexton |
| 6 | sex | 17 | sjutton |
| 7 | sju | 18 | arton |
| 8 | åtta | 19 | nitton |
| 9 | nio | 20 | tjugo |
| 10 | tio | 21 | tjugoett / tjugoen |
Tens, hundreds and beyond
| Number | Swedish |
|---|---|
| 30 | trettio |
| 40 | fyrtio |
| 50 | femtio |
| 60 | sextio |
| 70 | sjuttio |
| 80 | åttio |
| 90 | nittio |
| 100 | hundra / etthundra |
| 1 000 | tusen / ettusen |
| 1 000 000 | en miljon |
Ordinals worth knowing
| Number | Ordinal | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | första | first |
| 2 | andra | second |
| 3 | tredje | third |
| 4 | fjärde | fourth |
| 5 | femte | fifth |
| 10 | tionde | tenth |
| 20 | tjugonde | twentieth |
In a sentence
tjugotre (23)
twenty-three
fyrtioåtta (48)
forty-eight
hundratrettiotvå (132)
one hundred thirty-two
What learners get wrong
ett bil
Say instead: en bil
The number one agrees with the noun's gender exactly as the article does — because it is the same word. En bil, ett hus.
tjugo tre
Say instead: tjugotre
Swedish writes compound numbers as one word, however long: hundrafemtiosju, tvåtusentjugosex.
Questions people ask
- When do I say en and when ett for the number one?
- It follows the noun. En bil, en bok, en dag for en-words; ett hus, ett barn, ett år for ett-words. On its own — counting aloud, giving a phone number — Swedes say ett.
- How do I tell the time in Swedish?
- Klockan is the word for the clock time: klockan sju, at seven. Halves count forward to the next hour, which is the trap — halv sju is half past six, not half past seven. Quarters use kvart över and kvart i: kvart över sju, kvart i åtta.
- Why is 40 fyrtio and not fyratio?
- The spelling reflects the pronunciation, which lost the -a long ago. It is written fyrtio and said roughly "förtio". It is the one ten that does not simply glue the unit onto -tio.
Sources
Usage checked against Isof, the Swedish government's language institute, and Svenska Akademien. Where usage is genuinely divided, this page says so rather than inventing a rule.
