The fastest way to learn Swedish is to spend most of your study time on Swedish you can mostly understand. That kind of Swedish is called comprehensible input. What you read and listen to should change as you improve, so the plan below shows what to do at each level and how to split an hour of study.
What to Do at Each Level
Find the level that sounds like you. Its bar shows how to spend an hour of study.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out or know only a few words.
Read and listen 35 min. Review 15 min. Speak 10 min.
Read short dialogues with audio and a translation, and listen to each one twice. Add short episodes of the beginner podcast Lätt svenska med Oskar, and say a few lines out loud.
- Level 2
I can read simple sentences.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Hide the translation and look up only the words that stop you. Read the weekday news in easy Swedish on 8 Sidor, and start short talks with a tutor or a friend.
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Add Klartext, the news in simple Swedish from Sveriges Radio, Sweden's public radio. Play each lesson once more without reading along, and talk about what you read for longer.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Listen to Simple Swedish Podcast, which uses natural Swedish that is a little slower and simpler. Watch a Swedish series with the Swedish subtitles on, one episode a week.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Listen to the normal news and shows on Sveriges Radio, and read articles about things you like. Look up only the words that block the story, in the Swedish Academy's dictionaries.
- Level 6
I read at near-native level.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Swedish novels and newspapers, and talk about them, for their own sake.
Move up a level when your lessons start to feel easy, and move back down if you lose the thread by the third line.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Swedish?
Swedish takes about 24 weeks of full-time classes, or 552 class hours, to reach professional fluency, according to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. That puts Swedish in its first group, the languages it calls close to English, with Norwegian, Danish, Dutch and Spanish.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Swedish, Norwegian | Category I | 24 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Finnish | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
The Swedish Institute, a Swedish government agency, teaches Swedish at its center in Paris in 51 class hours per level, which is a year of one 90-minute class a week. So its first two levels, A1 and A2, take 102 hours, and A1 through B1 take 153. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Swedish Institute A1–A2 (102 hours) | Swedish Institute A1–B1 (153 hours) | FSI professional fluency (552 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 6½ months | About 10 months | About 3 years |
| 7 hours | About 3½ months | About 5 months | About 18 months |
| 14 hours | About 7 weeks | About 2½ months | About 9 months |
| 28 hours | About 3½ weeks | About 5½ weeks | About 4½ months |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Swedish on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Reading Without ListeningSpoken Swedish can sound different from the page, and jag, which means “I”, can be said without its g. Listen to what you read, so you know the words when you hear them.
- Nouns Without en or ettMost Swedish nouns give no clue whether they take en or ett, the two words for “a”. Save each new noun with the one it came with.
- Content Far Too HardA Swedish crime series where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Swedish app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Swedish, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Swedish app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Swedish in three months?
You can learn enough Swedish to order a coffee, greet people and talk about your day. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours. That is a little more than the Swedish Institute's 153 class hours for A1 through B1, and about a third of the Foreign Service Institute's 552.
How much should I study Swedish each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Swedish you understand, in sessions of at least 15 to 30 minutes. A longer session lets you get lost in a story, which teaches more than five minutes a day, and steady time each week matters more than a daily streak. Our post on deep sessions over daily streaks explains why.
Is Swedish hard for English speakers?
Not very, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: Swedish is in its fastest group. Many Swedish words look like English ones, such as hus (house) and bok (book), and a verb stays the same for every person, so "I am" is jag är and "she is" is hon är.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
The Swedish lessons on this site are also free and need no account.
Sources
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories)
- Institut suédois (Swedish Institute), Paris: Cours de suédois (34 classes of 90 minutes a year at each level)
- Institut suédois (Swedish Institute), Paris: A1 course (51 class hours, with level A1 as the goal after two semesters)
- Wikipedia: Swedish alphabet
- Wikipedia: Swedish grammar (noun genders, verbs that do not change for person)
- Wiktionary: jag (pronunciation with and without the g)
