Each Swedish noun belongs to one of the two grammatical gender categories: utrum or neutrum. Unfortunately, neither the stress nor the word’s ending reveal which category a word belongs to. The grammatical gender determines the plural formation, adjective endings as well as which articles or pronouns should be used. To avoid sounding like a foreigner you should learn the word’s gender by heart!
Approximately three quaters of Swedish words are utrum, so my strategy is to memorise all neutrum words as a list. Below are some useful neuter words sorted into semantic categories.
A useful rule to remember: the last constituent of a compound determines the grammatical gender of the whole word. Öl ‘beer’ is neutrum, so fatöl ‘draught beer’ is also neutrum.
Food
| livsmedel | 'food' |
| te | 'tea' |
| kaffe | 'coffee' |
| öl | 'beer' |
| vin | 'wine' |
| brännvin | 'brandy' |
| socker | 'sugar' |
| godis | 'sweets' |
| ris | 'rice' |
| mjöl | 'flour' |
| bröd | 'bread' |
| knäckebröd | 'crispbread' |
| smör | 'butter' |
| ägg | 'egg' |
| kött | 'meat' |
| fläskkött | 'pork' |
| nöttkött | 'beef' |
| lammkött | 'lamb' |
| potatismos | 'mashed potatoes' |
| päron | 'pear' |
| plommon | 'plum' |
| bär | 'berry' |
| körsbär | 'cherry' |
| blåbär | 'blueberry' |
| hallon | 'raspberry' |
| lingon | 'cowberry' |
City
| centrum | 'center' |
| hus | 'house' |
| torg | 'market' |
| museum | 'museum' |
| konserthus | 'concert hall' |
| slott | 'castle' |
| bibliotek | 'library' |
| universitet | 'university' |
| gymnasium/gymnasiet | 'gymnasium' |
| sjukhus | 'hospital' |
| apotek | 'pharmacy' |
| äldreboende | 'nursing home' |
| trafikljus | 'traffic light' |
| övergångsställe | 'zebra crossing' |
| hotell | 'hotel' |
| transportmedel | 'means of transport' |
| fordon | 'vehicle' |
| tåg | 'train' |
| flygplan | 'airplane' |
| skepp | 'ship' |