The short answer
Swedish has one set of pronouns for the subject (jag, du, han, hon, hen, den, det, vi, ni, de) and another for the object (mig, dig, honom, henne, hen, den, det, oss, er, dem). The verb never changes to match: jag talar, du talar, vi talar are all the same form. The only pair that regularly causes trouble is de/dem, because both are pronounced dom in speech.
Swedish personal pronouns change based on whether they are used as subjects or objects.
Subject pronouns are used when the pronoun is the doer of the action. Object pronouns are used when the pronoun receives the action.
Subject and object forms
| Subject | Object | English |
|---|---|---|
| jag | mig | I / me |
| du | dig | you (singular) |
| han | honom | he / him |
| hon | henne | she / her |
| hen | hen | they (singular, gender-neutral) |
| den | den | it (en-word) |
| det | det | it (ett-word) |
| vi | oss | we / us |
| ni | er | you (plural) |
| de | dem | they / them |
In a sentence
Jag älskar dig
I love you
Han ser henne
He sees her
Vi hjälper dem
We help them
What learners get wrong
Han ser hon.
Say instead: Han ser henne.
The pronoun receiving the action takes the object form. Swedish keeps this distinction everywhere English does — he/him, she/her.
Jag pratade med de.
Say instead: Jag pratade med dem.
After a preposition you need the object form. Both are said dom, so the ear is no help here — this one is learnt by eye.
Det är jag som gjorde det → Det är mig som…
Say instead: Det är jag som gjorde det.
After är, Swedish keeps the subject form when the pronoun is the one doing the following verb. Unlike English "it's me".
Questions people ask
- What does hen mean in Swedish?
- Hen is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun, used when the person's gender is unknown, irrelevant, or when they do not identify as han or hon. Svenska Akademiens ordlista added it in its 2015 edition. Its object form is also hen, and its genitive is hens — Språkrådet recommends against henom.
- What is the difference between de and dem?
- De is the subject (de kommer — they are coming) and dem is the object (jag ser dem — I see them). In everyday speech both are pronounced dom, which is why native speakers mix them up in writing too. If you can replace it with they, use de; if with them, use dem.
- When do I use den and when det?
- It follows the noun's gender: den replaces an en-word (boken → den) and det replaces an ett-word (huset → det). Det is also the empty subject in expressions like det regnar (it is raining) and det finns (there is).
- Do Swedish verbs change with the pronoun?
- No. This is the single largest simplification in Swedish compared to French, German or Spanish: jag är, du är, han är, vi är, ni är, de är. One form for every person, in every tense.
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.