Swedish adjectives change their endings based on the noun they describe.

This grammar rule is known as adjective agreement.

To use adjectives correctly, you must know if the noun is an en word or an ett word.

You also need to know if the noun is singular, plural, definite, or indefinite.

This step-by-step guide will show you exactly how to change Swedish adjectives to match their nouns perfectly.

Swedish noun genders (en vs. ett)

Before you can change an adjective, you need to identify the noun’s gender.

Swedish has two grammatical genders for nouns.

These are common nouns (en words) and neuter nouns (ett words).

Most words in the Swedish language are en words.

Your adjective will look different depending on whether it describes an en word or an ett word.

Indefinite adjective agreement

Indefinite nouns are general items, like saying “a car” instead of “the car”.

When describing an indefinite en word, the adjective stays in its basic dictionary form.

For example, the Swedish word for green is grön.

When describing an indefinite ett word, you must add the letter -t to the end of the adjective.

Here’s a table showing how common adjectives change for indefinite singular nouns.

Definite adjective agreement

Definite nouns refer to specific items, like saying “the car” instead of “a car”.

Swedish uses a unique structure called the double definite when an adjective is involved.

You must use a separate definite article, add an -a to the adjective, and still attach the standard definite ending to the noun itself.

The separate definite articles are den for en words and det for ett words.

The rule for the adjective itself is incredibly simple in this case.

You just add the letter -a to the end of the basic adjective.

This -a ending applies to both en and ett words.

Here’s a table showing the double definite structure in action.

Plural adjective forms

Making adjectives plural in Swedish is very straightforward.

Whether the noun is an en word or an ett word, the plural adjective always ends in -a.

It’s the exact same ending used for definite singular adjectives.

If the plural noun is indefinite (e.g., “green cars”), you just use the adjective with an -a.

If the plural noun is definite (e.g., “the green cars”), you use the plural definite article de along with the -a ending on the adjective.

In spoken Swedish across almost all regional dialects, the word de is pronounced as dom.

Common exceptions and irregular adjectives

Some Swedish adjectives don’t follow these standard rules.

Adjectives that end in a vowel, like bra (good), never change their form.

They look exactly the same regardless of gender, number, or definiteness.

Adjectives ending in a stressed syllable followed by an -m or -n will often double their final consonant when adding an ending.

For example, dum (stupid) becomes dumt for ett words, but dumma for plurals and definite forms.

The most famous irregular adjective in Swedish is liten (small).

It completely changes its shape depending on how it’s used.

It becomes litet for ett words, lilla for singular definite nouns, and små for all plural nouns.