E. C. Otté

“ Henry Sweet, who is one of the highest authorities on the sounds and intonation of spoken Swedish, there is in every word a simple and a compound tone. The simple tone he characterizes as "a rising modulation, as in asking a question in English," while in the compound tone he recognizes "a falling tone (as in answering a question) on the stress-syllable with an upward leap of the voice, together with a slight secondary stress on a succeeding syllable. ”

“ The conversion of adverbs and prepositions into conjunctions, and the post-position of prepositions, of both of which we subjoin a few additional examples, constitute peculiar features of Swedish, specially worthy of attention owing to the light which they throw on the origin of various idiomatic expressions in English. ”

“ There is a tendency in modern Swedish to transfer verbs of the fourth or strong form of conjugation to the first or second weak form. Similarly, modern usage tends to reject the harder radical vowels in favour of their softer derivatives, taking ä for å, ö for u, etc.; while for the same considerations of euphony the j is frequently dropped, as in böd, originally bjöd, imperf. indicative of bjuda, 'to bid;' söng, originally sjöng, imp. ind. of sjunga, 'to sing.'
Contractions are of frequent occurrence even among the best speakers and writers ”

“ The Noun.
The noun agrees in gender and number with its predicate; as, månen är klar, 'the moon is bright;' hästarne voro feta, men oxarne magra, 'the horses were fat, but the oxen were lean.'
In simple sentences the subject noun precedes the verb; as, jag ser flickan, 'I see the girl.' But it follows the verb:—
1. In interrogatives; as, hvarför ligger inte barnet? 'why does not the child go to bed?'
2. In secondary sentences; as, när flickan har något godt, så delar hon alltid med sig åt andra, 'when the girl has anything good, she always shares it with others.'
3. ”

“ And if Forn-Svenskan has comparatively little importance from a merely literary point of view, a study of its grammatical structure, and of numerous survivals in the later forms of Swedish, will be found to throw considerable light on the process of development through which many English as well as Scandinavian words have passed, showing that notwithstanding their actual differences they have had one common origin. ”

“ Transitive verbs generally admit of being used in the passive as well as the active form, as, älska, älskas, 'to love,' 'to be loved;' but intransitive verbs can usually only be employed in an impersonal form in the passive, when they acquire a significance peculiar to the Scandinavian languages ”

“ In modern Swedish, great dialectic differences of inflection and pronunciation are still to be met with even among the educated classes, although it cannot be denied that the present generation is showing a constantly increasing inclination to level provincialisms towards a more general standard, and thus to create a fixed form of cultivated spoken speech. ”

“ The Third Declension, which includes nouns of all genders, contains a large proportion of foreign words. The termination -er in the plural, which is its distinctive character, is unknown in genuine Swedish words of the neuter gender, and is due to German and Danish influences. ”

“ Some adjectives are defective or irregular in their mode of declension; as, grå, 'grey,' which may remain unchanged, or take an a in the plural; as, grå ögon or gråa ögon, 'grey eyes.' Små, although the plural of liten, litet, 'little', may be used in the singular masculine and feminine in a collective sense; as, små fisk, 'small fish;' småskog, m., 'underwood.' As a noun or an adverb, smått is of common occurrence ”

“ The plural ena, 'ones,' 'some,' is used to express surprise or contempt; as, det är ena obegripliga flickor, 'they are incomprehensible girls!'
This article is in many respects governed by the same rules as in English. Thus it directly precedes the noun which it indicates; as, en gosse, 'a boy;' en blomma, 'a flower;' ett hus, 'a house;' while where the noun is qualified by an adjective, in precedes the latter ”

“ Swedish adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun which they qualify; as, en flitig man, och en flitig qvinna, 'a diligent man and woman;' ett flitigt barn, 'a diligent child;' gode (a) söner, 'good sons;' flitiga flickor, 'diligent girls;' ädla namn, n., 'noble names.' Here it will be observed that in this indefinite so-called "weak" form of the adjective, which is also used as a predicate, the masculine and feminine in the singular are identical, while the neuter takes a t. ”

“ Here it will be observed that the noun, when preceded by an adjective, takes both the affixed article and the independent definite article. This pleonasm is peculiar to the Swedish branch of the Scandinavian languages, Dano-Norwegian dispensing with the terminal affix when the noun is preceded by an adjective with the requisite independent or adjective form of the definite article. ”

“ The place of the adverb in Swedish is in many cases identical with that which it occupies in English; as, den unga flickan taler väl, 'the young girl speaks well;' dagen derpå, gik han bort, 'the day after, he went away;' glädjen är förbi, 'the pleasure is over;' der du är, der vil jag vara! ”

“ The pronoun must agree in gender and number with the noun which it represents; as, Hvar är flickan? Hon är i trädgården, 'Where is the girl ? She is in the orchard.' In some cases, however, the pronoun follows the natural rather than the grammatical gender ”

“ Passive Verbs. (Passivum.) The modern Swedish form of the passive has originated from the Old Northern, in which it was a mere adaptation of the reflective pronoun sik, sig, and was conjugated with the help of the auxiliaries vera, verda (varða) , 'to be,' and the past participle of the active form of the verb.
In modern Swedish the passive is formed by adding s (for sig) to the transitive active form of the verb; as—
Infinitive. Present. (att) kallas, to be called. " böjas, " bent. " tros, " trusted. " bindas, " bound. Past. att hafva kallats, to have been called. " " böjts, " " " bent. " ”

“ The second person du, while used in prayer, and between the nearest relatives much the same in Swedish as in German, is not unfrequently superseded between parents and children and near relatives by the name or designation of the individual addressed ”

“ Plur. hafva, hade " " " " Sing. har, hade trotts " " trodd. Plur. hafva, hade " " " " Sing. har, hade bundit, " " bunden. Plur. hafva, hade " " " " Deponents are conjugated after the passive form, while they have an active significance; as, minnas, 'to remember,' jag minnas, 'I remember.'
Some deponents are merely the passive of some other reflective active verb; as, förifras, 'to be in a passion,' from förifra sig, 'to put oneself in a passion.' Others have no relation to any corresponding active verb; as, hoppas, 'to hope.'
Most intransitive verbs are without the passive ”

“ Sin, sitt, sina are used (as in Danish) in a subjective reflective sense, whilst hans, hennes, dess are only used objectively; as, Fadern äskar sitt barn, och söker befrämja dess väl, 'a father loves his (own) child, and strives to promote his (the child's) welfare. ”

“ It may also be used adverbially or as a preposition; as, luften är tryckande het, 'the air is oppressively hot;' angaende denna vigtiga sak, 'concerning this important matter.'
This participle, which always ends in ande or ende, is very commonly used in the sense of an adjective; as, en svinlande höjd, 'a dizzy height.'
The past participle, which ends in d, t, or en, may be used similarly ”

“ A fractional amount is made to refer to the greater, and not the lesser number; as, klockan är tre qvarter på fyra, 'it is a quarter (three-quarters on) to four;' klockan half fem, 'half-past four;' half annan, 'one and a half.' Where och, 'and,' is used, the position of the fractional part is altered in such sentences ”

“ The Swedes rejected the use of Gothic characters three hundred years ago, and since then they have employed the ordinary Latin letters, adding merely certain marks to indicate special vowel-sounds peculiar to the northern tongues. ”

“ In the modern system of spelling there is a tendency, however, to restrict this practice within more rational limits, more especially in regard to compound prepositions, adverbs and conjunctions, the component parts of which are now more and more frequently written separately; as, till freds, 'content,' i hjäl, 'dead;' instead of tillfreds, ihjäl. ”

“ Similarly, it is proposed to exchange o for å, where the short sound of the latter has led to a deviation from the older Northern form, as in boll used for the more correct båll, 'ball.'
The vowel-sounds differ so widely with the varying degrees of stress and accentuation on the word, that a prolonged acquaintance with the spoken speech is absolutely necessary to enable a foreigner to know when the vowel should be long or short. ”

“ Nämligen, 'namely' is, on the other hand, used in the sense of 'for' 'because;' as, hans beteende är oförklarligt; han har nämligen alltid ansetts vara en hederlig man, 'his conduct is inexplicable because he has always been regarded as an honest man.' Ty, may be similarly used ”

“ Nouns generally that end in ad, ande, are, dom, ing, ling, lek, när, skap; as, månad, m., 'month;' handlande, m., 'trader;' tjenare, m., 'man-servant;' ungdom, m., 'youth;' mening, m., 'meaning;' främling, m., 'stranger;' kärlek, m., 'love;' konstnär, m., 'artist;' vetenskap, m., 'science.'
To the feminine gender belong generally:—
1. Nouns that indicate the female sex in persons and animals ”

“ Adjectives may be used in the sense of nouns; as, den tappre, 'the brave (man) ;' den vackra, 'the charming (woman) ;' det ädla, 'the noble (act, thing) .'
The degrees of comparison are expressed by adding to the positive form are or re, and ast or st ”

“ The correct use of the prepositions presents considerable difficulty in Swedish. Thus, for instance, in rendering the English 'of,' a number of different prepositions are needed in accordance with the special nature of the relations or conditions referred to ”

“ Many such words differ in the mode in which they form their plural; as, kor, m., 'a company of singers,' pl. korer; kor, n., 'church-quire,' pl. kor; lår, m., 'corn-bin,' pl. lårar; lår, n., 'thigh-bone,' pl. lår. ”

“ Plur. skola, shall. skall, skola. skulle, skulle. skolat. vilja, will. vill, vilja. ville, ville. velat. må, may. må, må (måga) . måtte, måtte. måst. måste, may. måste, måste. måst. tör, töra, dare. tör, töra. torde, torde. kunna, can. kan, kunna. kunde, kunde. kunnat. böra, ought. bör, böra. borde, borde. bort. ”

“ The Third Conjugation takes dde in the imperfect indicative, dd in the past participle, and tt in the supine. The infinitive does not take the terminal a, and the present participle takes ende.
Infinitive. Example: (att) tro, 'to believe;' Part. Pres. troende; Past Part. trodd; Sup. trott.
Indicative. Present. Imperfect. Imperative. Sing. tror. Sing. trodde. Sing. 2 pers. tro. Plur. tro. Plur. trodde. Plur. 2 " tron Optative. Present. ⁠ ⁠ Imperfect. Sing.
and
Plur.
må tro. The same as Imperf. Indic. The Fourth Conjugation. This conjugation includes all the so-called strong verbs, i.e. ”

“ Masc. Fem. Neut. Sing. N. hin hin hint (hit) , 'this,' 'that.' G. hins hinnar hins D. hinum hinni hinu, A. hin hina hint (hit) Plur. N. hinir hinar hin, 'these,' 'those.' G. hinna hinna hinna D. hinum hinum hinum A. hina hinar hin It will be observed that the modern Swedish demonstrative pronouns, den, denne, which appeared early in the language in their present form, have been directly derived from the older accusatives ðan, ðæn, ðenna. ”

“ Masculine. Feminine. Neuter. Sing.: N. brander, fire. sak, thing. land, country. G. brands sakar lands D. brandi (e) saku (sak) landi (e) A. brand sak land Plur.: N. brandar sakar (ir, er) land G. branda saka landa D. brandum (om) sakum (om) landum (om) A. branda sakar land. ”