2025.08.18

Swedish Grammar #16: The Basics of Prepositions

Haruno

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In Swedish sentences, prepositions are essential for providing detailed information about verbs, such as where, with whom, by what means, and when. A preposition is placed before a noun and indicates its relationship (place, time, direction, means, etc.) with the following noun.

Prepositions function much like English words such as in, on, to, with, and about, though Swedish also has its own unique usages and expressions.

In this lesson, I will explain the most frequently used prepositions that beginners should master first, as well as their usage from a grammatical perspective.

Contents

1. The Role of Prepositions
2. Basic Structure: Preposition + Noun
3. Commonly Used Prepositions with Examples
4. Prepositions with Verbs
5. Summary

1. The Role of Prepositions

Prepositions are words placed before a noun or pronoun to indicate relationships such as place, time, direction, or meansin a sentence. As in English, Swedish prepositions must always precede the noun.

Jag bor i Sverige. (I live in Sweden)
Hon sitter på stolen. (She is sitting on the chair)

In these examples, the prepositional phrases add information such as where one lives or where one sits.

2. Basic Structure: Preposition + Noun

In Swedish, a preposition must always be placed directly before a noun (or pronoun). The prepositional phrase is treated as a single unit of information, usually specifying place, time, or other details.

Han läser en bok i parken.
(He is reading a book in the park)

Here, en bok (a book) is the object, and i parken (in the park) is the prepositional phrase. It supplements the verb läser(reads) with the information where?.

Prepositional phrases can also be placed at the beginning of a sentence, but in such cases, the word order rule (the V2 rule, where the verb must occupy the second position) must be observed.

I parken läser han en bok.
(In the park, he is reading a book)

This structure is often used when emphasizing the prepositional phrase or when adding variety to sentence flow.

3. Commonly Used Prepositions with Examples

Below are the most basic prepositions that beginners should learn first. Although many prepositions resemble English in meaning, their usage and placement must be carefully observed.

Preposition	Meaning	Example	Translation
i	in	Jag bor i Sverige.	I live in Sweden.
på	on / at (broad places)	Boken ligger på bordet.	The book is on the table.
under	under, beneath	Katten är under stolen.	The cat is under the chair.
över	above, over	Lampan hänger över bordet.	The lamp hangs above the table.
till	to (destination)	Vi går till skolan.	We are going to school.
från	from	Han kommer från Norge.	He comes from Norway.
med	with / by (means)	Jag pratar med henne.	I talk with her.
utan	without	Kaffe utan socker, tack.	Coffee without sugar, please.
om	about	Vi pratar om filmen.	We are talking about the film.

4. Prepositions with Verbs

In Swedish, many verbs are commonly used together with specific prepositions, forming idiomatic expressions. This is similar to English combinations such as think about, talk to, or look at.

Here are some representative examples:

Verb	Common Preposition	Meaning
prata	om	to talk about
tänka	på	to think about
lyssna	på	to listen to
titta	på	to look at
vänta	på	to wait for
vara rädd	för	to be afraid of

Since these combinations create fixed meanings, it is most effective to learn them as verb-preposition pairs.

5. Summary

Swedish prepositions are placed before nouns or pronouns and indicate relationships of place, time, direction, or means within a sentence.
Frequently used prepositions include i (in), på (on/at), till (to), and från (from).
Prepositional phrases can be positioned flexibly in a sentence, but following the basic order (Subject + Verb + Prepositional Phrase) results in natural expressions.
Verb-preposition combinations form fixed expressions and should be memorized as units.

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