The short answer
I is for being inside something with boundaries — i huset, i Stockholm, i Sverige. På is for surfaces (på bordet), for islands (på Gotland), and for a large group of institutions and workplaces where English would say "at": på banken, på jobbet, på posten. Till marks movement towards, and hos means at someone's place: hos mormor, hos läkaren.
Key place prepositions: i (in), på (on/at), till (to), från (from), vid (by/at), hos (at someone's place).
Location and movement
| Preposition | Sense | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| i | inside, within | Jag bor i Stockholm | I live in Stockholm |
| på | on a surface | Boken ligger på bordet | The book is on the table |
| på | at an institution | Hon är på banken | She is at the bank |
| på | on an island | Vi är på Gotland | We are on Gotland |
| till | movement towards | Jag går till skolan | I am going to school |
| från | movement from | Han kommer från Norge | He comes from Norway |
| hos | at someone's place | Vi äter hos mormor | We eat at grandma's |
| vid | by, next to | Huset ligger vid sjön | The house is by the lake |
In a sentence
Jag bor i Stockholm
I live in Stockholm
Vi är på kontoret
We are at the office
Jag går till skolan
I go to school
Vi äter middag hos mormor
We eat dinner at grandma's
What learners get wrong
Jag går i skolan. (meaning I am going to school now)
Say instead: Jag går till skolan.
Till carries the movement. Jag går i skolan is a real sentence, but it means "I attend school" — a statement about your education, not your afternoon.
Jag är i banken.
Say instead: Jag är på banken.
Swedish takes på for most institutions and workplaces: på banken, på posten, på jobbet, på sjukhuset, på restaurangen. There is no rule behind it that helps; it is learnt as a list.
Questions people ask
- When is it i and when på for a place?
- I is the default for enclosed spaces, cities and countries. På takes over for surfaces, islands, and a set of institutions and workplaces. The institution group is genuinely arbitrary and has to be memorised — but it is a finite list, and the everyday ones are few: banken, posten, jobbet, skolan, sjukhuset, restaurangen, stationen.
- Why is it på Gotland but i Sverige?
- Swedish uses på for islands and i for countries and mainland regions. So på Gotland, på Öland, på Island — but i Sverige, i Skåne, i Stockholm. Whether the island is also a country makes no difference: på Island is Iceland.
- What exactly does hos mean?
- At someone's place or premises — the equivalent of French chez, which English has no word for. Hos mormor is at grandma's house, hos läkaren is at the doctor's, hos oss is at ours. It is always followed by a person or a business, never a place name.
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.