Learn the difference between neuter and common genders
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What is the difference between neuter and common genders? |
| Jesper: And how do you tell if a noun is neuter or common? |
| Michael: At SwedishClass101.com, we hear these questions often. |
| Consider the following situation. Henrik Hakansson is talking to a friend about his long-time dream. His daughter Hedda Hakansson happily joins the conversation. |
| "I want a house." |
| Henrik Hakansson: Jag vill ha ett hus. |
| Dialogue |
| Henrik Hakansson: Jag vill ha ett hus. |
| Hedda Hakansson: Jag vill ha en häst! |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Henrik Hakansson: Jag vill ha ett hus. |
| Michael: "I want a house." |
| Hedda Hakansson: Jag vill ha en häst! |
| Michael: "I want a horse!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In the conversation, Henrik tells a friend about his long-time dream: |
| Jesper: Jag vill ha ett hus. |
| Michael: "I want a house." His daughter Hedda joins the conversation and shares what she wants. |
| Jesper: Jag vill ha en häst! |
| Michael: "I want a horse!" You may have noticed that different Swedish articles are used for "a house" |
| Jesper: ett hus |
| Michael: and "a horse." |
| Jesper: en häst. |
| Michael: Yes, something that distinguishes Swedish from English is that Swedish still possesses grammatical gender. The grammatical gender in Swedish no longer has feminine or masculine forms, like some other languages. Instead, Swedish has neuter and common genders. The neuter gender can also be called neutrum, and the common gender can also be called utrum. In the dialogue, "a house" |
| Jesper: ett hus |
| Michael: is a neuter gender noun, which therefore comes with the article |
| Jesper: ett |
| Michael: "A horse." |
| Jesper: en häst |
| Michael: however, is a common gender noun and comes with the article |
| Jesper: en. |
| Michael: Determining the gender of a noun is not only important for knowing which article to use, but it is also critical when assigning a pronoun to that noun. For example, the personal pronoun |
| Jesper: det |
| Michael: is used for neuter gender nouns, and the personal pronoun |
| Jesper: den |
| Michael: is used for common gender nouns. Knowing the gender of a noun also comes into play in other situations, such as when using a definite article or when using adjectives for the specific noun. Unfortunately, for Swedish learners, the grammatical gender of Swedish nouns is largely randomly assigned. This means that the gender of the noun needs to be learned and memorized with the noun. There are, however, a few hints that can help this learning process. Living beings are often common gender nouns. For example; |
| Jesper: en flicka |
| Michael: "a girl" |
| Jesper: en man |
| Michael: "a man," or |
| Jesper: en häst |
| Michael: "a horse." As mentioned, however, learning which nouns are neuter and which are common gender will largely be based on memorization. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review what we heard in this lesson. I will say the target sentence in English. Then, you should respond by saying the sentence out loud in Swedish. Jesper will then model the correct answer. Listen to him carefully, with the focus on pronunciation, and then repeat. |
| The first sentence is "I want a house." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Jesper: Jag vill ha ett hus. |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen to Jesper again, and repeat. |
| Jesper: Jag vill ha ett hus. |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Jesper: Jag vill ha ett hus. |
| Michael: The second sentence is "I want a horse!" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Jesper: Jag vill ha en häst! |
| Michael: How did you do this time? Again, listen to Jesper and repeat. |
| Jesper: Jag vill ha en häst! |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Jesper: Jag vill ha en häst! |
| Cultural Expansion |
| Michael: You might hear some Swedish learners say that, when in doubt, guess that a noun is common gender. Why is that? |
| Jesper: Well, about three quarters of all nouns in Swedish are utrum, or common gender nouns. |
| Michael: Therefore, if you're not sure whether to use |
| Jesper: en |
| Michael: or |
| Jesper: ett, |
| Michael: going for the common gender |
| Jesper: en |
| Michael: is a pretty good guess. It is, however, still just a guess until you know for sure, so don't forget to study your neuter and common gender nouns! |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Jesper: Vi ses! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide