You’ve probably already asked yourself this question:

Why is it en banan (a banana) but ett äpple (an apple)?

This is one of the most common stumbling blocks for beginners.

In English, they just say “a” or “an” depending on the sound of the word.

In Swedish, however, the word you choose depends on the gender of the noun.

Don’t worry - Swedish nouns don’t actually have “boy” or “girl” genders like Spanish or French.

Instead, we have two categories: En words and Ett words.

Knowing the difference is important because it changes how you say “the”, and it changes how you describe things (adjectives).

Keep reading and I’ll explain how to tell them apart, along with some easy tricks to guess correctly.

What are En and Ett?

In Swedish, every noun (a person, place, or thing) belongs to one of two categories.

Linguists call these Utrum (Common gender) and Neutrum (Neuter gender). But to keep things simple, we just call them En words and Ett words.

Here is the most important thing to know:

About 75% to 80% of all nouns in Swedish are En words.

This means that Ett words are the minority.

If you are in a conversation and you completely forget the gender of a word, you should just guess en. You will be right four out of five times!

The En words (Common gender)

Since the vast majority of nouns are En words, this is your default category.

Historically, this category combined the masculine and feminine genders into one “common” gender. This is why it includes most living things (people and animals).

Here are some common examples of nouns that take en:

When you use these words in a sentence, you use en as the article:

The Ett words (Neuter gender)

Ett words are less common, comprising about 20% to 25% of Swedish nouns.

While there are fewer of them, many of them are very high-frequency words that you use every day, such as “house”, “child”, or “apple”.

Here are some common examples of nouns that take ett:

Here is how they look in a sentence:

4 tips and tricks to guess the gender

Many textbooks will tell you that there are no rules and you just have to memorize the gender of every single word.

While it is true that you must memorize them to be 100% perfect, there are patterns that can help you guess correctly most of the time.

1. The “Living Being” Rule

If the noun is a living thing, like a person or an animal, it is almost certainly an En word.

• En man (a man)
• En katt (a cat)
• En läkare (a doctor)
• En häst (a horse)

Exceptions:

There are a few famous exceptions. Ett barn (a child), ett lejon (a lion), and ett får (a sheep). But generally, if it’s alive, guess en.

2. Look at the ending (suffixes)

The ending of the word often reveals its gender.

Words are usually En if they end in:

• -a (en blomma - a flower)
• -ing / -ning (en tidning - a newspaper)
• -het (en lägenhet - an apartment)
• -else (en bakelse - a pastry)

Words are usually Ett if they end in:

• -um (ett museum - a museum)
• -skop (ett mikroskop - a microscope)

3. Continents and Countries

Geographical locations like continents and countries generally act as Ett words, though we rarely put the word “a” or “an” before them.

However, this becomes important when using adjectives. We say Ett vackert Sverige (A beautiful Sweden), not En vacker Sverige.

4. The Plural Trick

If you already know the plural form of a word, you can often figure out the gender.

If the plural ends in -r (like -or, -ar, -er), it is an En word.

• Flickor (girls) -> En flicka
• Bilar (cars) -> En bil

If the plural stays the same or ends in -n, it is usually an Ett word.

• Hus (houses - same as singular) -> Ett hus
• Äpplen (apples) -> Ett äpple

Why does gender matter?

You might be thinking, “Can’t I just say en for everything? Will people understand me?”

Yes, Swedes will understand you. However, mixing up en and ett will make your Swedish sound broken.

It matters because the gender affects other parts of the sentence, specifically the definite form (“the”) and adjectives.

1. Saying “The”

In Swedish, we attach “the” to the end of the word.

• En words add -en or -n: Bilen (The car)
• Ett words add -et or -t: Huset (The house)

2. Adjectives

If you want to say something is “red” (röd), you have to change the word based on gender.

• En bil är röd. (A car is red)
• Ett hus är rött. (A house is red)

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Learning en vs ett takes time. Even advanced learners make mistakes occasionally.

Here is the quick summary:

• En words are roughly 80% of nouns. When in doubt, guess en.
• Ett words are roughly 20% of nouns.
• Living things are usually en.
• Words ending in -a, -ing, -ning are usually en.

The best way to learn is simply to listen to Swedish podcasts or read simple texts. Eventually, your brain will just “hear” what sounds right!