Swedish adjectives
The 50 Most Common Swedish Adjectives
English meanings and an example sentence for each, free to learn in your browser.
Adjectives let you say what things are like: big or small, new or old, easy or difficult. A few dozen common ones cover most of what a beginner needs to describe people, places and everyday things. In Swedish they agree with the noun, so you will meet stor, stort and stora for the same word.
These are the first 50 of the 129 adjectives in our list, in learning order: the order the lessons teach them, built around how often they are used. It is a teaching sequence, not a raw corpus count. Each one comes with an example sentence where we have one. See also the most common Swedish words, the most common Swedish verbs and the most common Swedish nouns.
The top 50 Swedish adjectives
| # | Swedish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | annan | other, another | Mannen far till en annan stad. (The man travels to another city.) |
| 2 | samma | same | Vi går åt samma håll. (We are going in the same direction.) |
| 3 | många | many | Ett år har många dagar. (A year has many days.) |
| 4 | stor | big, large | Marknaden är stor i april. (The market is big in April.) |
| 5 | bra | good | Vi sitter på en bra plats. (We sit in a good place.) |
| 6 | lång | long | De bygger ett långt hus vid vägen. (They build a long house by the road.) |
| 7 | dålig | bad | Jag är sjuk och mitt huvud känns dåligt. (I am sick and my head feels bad.) |
| 8 | få | few | Vi har få pengar kvar. (We have little money left.) |
| 9 | kort | short | Jag ger dig ett kort råd. (I give you a short piece of advice.) |
| 10 | svår | difficult | Han åtar sig en svår uppgift. (He takes on a difficult task.) |
| 11 | sann | true | Känslan är mänsklig och sann. (The feeling is human and true.) |
| 12 | egen | own | Jag använder min egen hand. (I use my own hand.) |
| 13 | lik | like | Vi behandlar alla kunder lika. (We treat all customers equally.) |
| 14 | säker | sure | Är du säker? Ja, jag är säker. (Are you sure? Yes, I am sure.) |
| 15 | sen | late | Han lämnar sitt arbete sent. (He leaves his work late.) |
| 16 | liten | small | Familjen är liten men bra. (The family is small but good.) |
| 17 | sjuk | sick | En dag får hon veta: han är sjuk. (One day she learns: he is sick.) |
| 18 | ny | new | Hon skriver en ny bok. (She is writing a new book.) |
| 19 | hel | whole | Det är en svensk bil, hel och ny. (It is a Swedish car, whole and new.) |
| 20 | svensk | Swedish | Det är en svensk bil, hel och ny. (It is a Swedish car, whole and new.) |
| 21 | olik | different | |
| 22 | tidig | early | Han kommer tidigt varje gång. (He comes early every time.) |
| 23 | fler | more | Rörelsen växer: fler väljer ord före våld. (The movement grows: more choose words over violence.) |
| 24 | viktig | important | Ditt hjärta är viktigt. (Your heart is important.) |
| 25 | viss | certain | Vissa dagar regnar det. (Certain days it rains.) |
| 26 | hög | high | Huset ligger högt över staden. (The house lies high above the city.) |
| 27 | gammal | old | Laget är gammalt men gott. (The team is old but good.) |
| 28 | god | good | Laget är gammalt men gott. (The team is old but good.) |
| 29 | politisk | political | Det är en politisk fråga. (It is a political question.) |
| 30 | ekonomisk | economic | Det är en ekonomisk fråga. (It is an economic question.) |
| 31 | enda | only | Den enda vägen är att fortsätta varje dag. (The only way is to keep going every day.) |
| 32 | möjlig | possible | Det är möjligt att slå ett stort lag. (It is possible to beat a big team.) |
| 33 | intressant | interesting | Kyrkan är gammal men intressant. (The church is old but interesting.) |
| 34 | vanlig | common | En glad kvinna säger sin tanke: filmen är mer än en vanlig historia. (A cheerful woman says her thought: the film is more than an ordinary story.) |
| 35 | flest | most | De flesta unga ser film varje dag. (Most young people watch films every day.) |
| 36 | ung | young | Hur många procent är unga? (How many percent are young?) |
| 37 | sista | last | Johan gillar hennes ord. De talar länge om den sista akten. (Johan likes her words. They talk for a long time about the last act.) |
| 38 | kul | fun | Barnet är glatt och har kul. (The child is happy and has fun.) |
| 39 | glad | happy | Barnet är glatt och har kul. (The child is happy and has fun.) |
| 40 | nästa | next | Vi hinner inte till nästa akt. (We won't make it to the next act.) |
| 41 | europeisk | European | Han läser en europeisk text om kärlek. (He reads a European text about love.) |
| 42 | social | social | Hon är mycket social. (She is very social.) |
| 43 | internationell | international | Det är en internationell konferens. (It is an international conference.) |
| 44 | nationell | national | Vi har en nationell dag. (We have a national day.) |
| 45 | låg | low | De räknar allt och ser: priset måste vara lågt. (They count everything and see: the price must be low.) |
| 46 | fri | free | Du är fri att bestämma själv. (You are free to decide for yourself.) |
| 47 | ensam | alone | Han känner sig ensam. (He feels alone.) |
| 48 | gemensam | common | Vi gör en gemensam resa i juni. (We make a joint trip in June.) |
| 49 | klar | clear | Domen är enkel och klar. (The verdict is simple and clear.) |
| 50 | allmän | general | Myndigheten driver ett allmänt program. (The authority runs a public program.) |
Want the rest? Browse all 129 adjectives in the searchable word list.
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Questions about Swedish adjectives
- What are the most common Swedish adjectives?
- Near the top of our list are annan (other), samma (same), många (many), stor (big), bra (good), lång (long), dålig (bad), kort (short), svår (difficult), liten (small), ny (new) and gammal (old). With these you can already describe most everyday things.
- Do Swedish adjectives change form?
- Yes. An adjective agrees with its noun: en stor bil (a big car), ett stort hus (a big house) and stora bilar (big cars). The basic pattern is no ending for en-words, -t for ett-words and -a for plural and definite forms. Some common adjectives, such as bra and samma, never change.
- Why is liten so irregular?
- Liten (small) is one of the few really irregular adjectives: en liten bil, ett litet hus, but små bilar in the plural. Gammal (old) also shortens to gamla in the plural. It is worth learning these few by heart early.
- How many adjectives are on the full list?
- The full LearnSwedishFast word list has 129 adjectives. This page shows the first 50 in learning order; the rest are in the searchable word list, filterable by part of speech.