The short answer
Swedish nouns form the plural in five ways, traditionally called declensions: -or (flicka → flickor), -ar (bil → bilar), -er (student → studenter), -n (äpple → äpplen) and no ending at all (hus → hus). The gender narrows it down: almost every en-word ending in -a takes -or, most other en-words take -ar or -er, ett-words ending in a vowel take -n, and ett-words ending in a consonant usually take nothing.
Swedish nouns form plurals in 5 main ways (declensions):
1st: -or (en flicka → flickor), 2nd: -ar (en bil → bilar), 3rd: -er (en student → studenter), 4th: -n (ett äpple → äpplen), 5th: no change (ett barn → barn).
The five declensions
| Declension | Ending | Typical noun | Plural | Definite plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -or | en flicka | flickor | flickorna |
| 2nd | -ar | en bil | bilar | bilarna |
| 3rd | -er | en student | studenter | studenterna |
| 4th | -n | ett äpple | äpplen | äpplena |
| 5th | — | ett hus | hus | husen |
| 5th (en-word) | — | en lärare | lärare | lärarna |
Plurals with a vowel change
| Singular | Plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| en stad | städer | city |
| en bok | böcker | book |
| en hand | händer | hand |
| en man | män | man |
| en mor | mödrar | mother |
| en bror | bröder | brother |
In a sentence
en flicka → flickor (1st)
girl → girls
en bil → bilar (2nd)
car → cars
en student → studenter (3rd)
student → students
ett äpple → äpplen (4th)
apple → apples
ett barn → barn (5th)
child → children (no change)
What learners get wrong
två barns
Say instead: två barn
There is no -s plural in Swedish. Barn, hus and most consonant-final ett-words are identical in singular and plural.
en flicka → flickaor
Say instead: flickor
The final -a is replaced, not kept. Same for the whole first declension: en gata → gator, en kvinna → kvinnor.
Questions people ask
- How many declensions does Swedish have — five or six?
- Both counts are used. The five-declension model taught to learners folds the small group of nouns whose plural is a bare -r (en ko → kor, en tå → tår) into the third declension. Svenska Akademiens språklära separates them, giving six. Nothing about the forms changes; only the labelling does.
- Can I predict the plural from the gender?
- Partly, and it is worth doing. En-words in -a take -or almost without exception. En-words in -e or -are take -ar or no ending. Ett-words ending in a vowel take -n; ett-words ending in a consonant usually take nothing. Beyond that, learn the plural with the word.
- How do I form the definite plural?
- Add to the indefinite plural: -na after -or, -ar and -er (flickorna, bilarna, studenterna), -a after -n (äpplena), and -en to a plural with no ending (husen, barnen). En-words with no plural ending take -na: lärarna.
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.
