Swedish nouns
The 50 Most Common Swedish Nouns
English meanings and en or ett for each, free to learn in your browser.
Nouns are the things you talk about: people, places, time and everyday objects. Every Swedish noun is either an en-word or an ett-word, and that choice is not predictable from the meaning, so the best habit is to learn the article with the noun from day one. The table shows it for every word.
These are the first 50 of the 378 nouns 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. See also the most common Swedish words, the most common Swedish verbs and the most common Swedish adjectives.
The top 50 Swedish nouns
| # | Swedish | English | en / ett |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | en hand | a hand | en |
| 2 | en mun | a mouth | en |
| 3 | ett land | a country | ett |
| 4 | ett öga | an eye | ett |
| 5 | en kropp | a body | en |
| 6 | ett barn | a child | ett |
| 7 | en kvinna | a woman | en |
| 8 | en gud | a god | en |
| 9 | en polis | a police officer | en |
| 10 | ett år | one year | ett |
| 11 | en tid | a time | en |
| 12 | en dag | one day | en |
| 13 | ett fall | a case | ett |
| 14 | en människa | a person | en |
| 15 | ett folk | a people | ett |
| 16 | en son | a son | en |
| 17 | en man | a man | en |
| 18 | en sak | one thing | en |
| 19 | en bok | a book | en |
| 20 | en väg | a road | en |
| 21 | en stad | a city | en |
| 22 | en plats | a place | en |
| 23 | en vecka | one week | en |
| 24 | ett slut | an end | ett |
| 25 | en månad | one month | en |
| 26 | ett arbete | a job | ett |
| 27 | ett företag | a company | ett |
| 28 | ett jobb | a job | ett |
| 29 | en verksamhet | a business | en |
| 30 | ett namn | a name | ett |
| 31 | en ätt | a family | en |
| 32 | en familj | a family | en |
| 33 | en vän | a friend | en |
| 34 | en fråga | a question | en |
| 35 | ett huvud | a head | ett |
| 36 | en del | a part | en |
| 37 | en rättighet | a right | en |
| 38 | en bil | a car | en |
| 39 | ett pris | a prize | ett |
| 40 | ett behov | a need | ett |
| 41 | en kommentar | a comment | en |
| 42 | ett sätt | one way | ett |
| 43 | en gång | once | en |
| 44 | en timme | one hour | en |
| 45 | ett hjärta | a heart | ett |
| 46 | en ring | a ring | en |
| 47 | ett liv | a life | ett |
| 48 | en värld | a world | en |
| 49 | en person | one person | en |
| 50 | ett hus | a house | ett |
Want the rest? Browse all 378 nouns in the searchable word list.
Test yourself: 5 quick questions
See how many of these words you remember. Pick the English meaning of each Swedish word. Nothing is saved.
Get the free Top 100 pack
The 100 most useful Swedish words as a PDF, a CSV and an Anki deck. Leave your email and the downloads appear right away.
Questions about Swedish nouns
- What are the most common Swedish nouns?
- Near the top of our list are en hand (a hand), ett land (a country), ett barn (a child), en kvinna (a woman), en man (a man), ett år (a year), en dag (a day), en tid (a time), en vecka (a week), en bil (a car) and ett namn (a name). They cover people, time and places, which come up in almost every conversation.
- What is the difference between en and ett?
- Swedish has two noun genders. En-words (common gender) take en for a and usually -en for the: en dag, dagen. Ett-words (neuter) take ett and usually -et: ett hus, huset. The gender also changes adjectives: en stor bil but ett stort hus.
- Are most Swedish nouns en or ett?
- Most are en-words. Of the 378 nouns with an article in our list, 267 are en-words and 111 are ett-words, about 71 percent en. If you have to guess, en is the safer bet, but it is best to learn each noun together with its article.
- How many nouns are on the full list?
- The full LearnSwedishFast word list has 378 nouns listed with en or ett. This page shows the first 50 in learning order; the rest are in the searchable word list, filterable by part of speech.