-or/-ar/-er/-n

Plural Endings

Level 1

Swedish nouns form their plural in different ways. The most common endings are -or, -ar, -er, and -n. Some nouns don't change at all.

How It Works

Swedish nouns have several plural patterns. The following five patterns are a useful beginning, not an exhaustive classification:

  • -or ending: Used for most 'en' words that end in -a.
    en flicka → flickor (a girl → girls)
  • -ar ending: Used for many common 'en' words that do not end in -a.
    en pojke → pojkar (a boy → boys)
  • -er ending: Used for many en-words, especially those with final stress, and some ett-words. The singular may end in a consonant or a vowel, as the examples show.
    en telefon → telefoner (a telephone → telephones)
    ett bageri → bagerier (a bakery → bakeries)
  • -n ending: Common with ett-words ending in an unstressed vowel. Stress matters: compare äpple → äpplen with bageri → bagerier.
    ett äpple → äpplen (an apple → apples)
  • No ending: Some nouns, mostly 'ett' words ending in a consonant, have the same form in singular and plural.
    ett hus → hus (a house → houses)

Learning which group a noun belongs to is a key part of building your Swedish vocabulary.

Learn The Actual Forms
The no-ending pattern also includes en-words such as en lärare → två lärare. Other patterns include en sko → skor with -r, and borrowed nouns with -s plurals. Some words change their stem as well: en bok → böcker. Gender and word shape help predict a form, but store the singular and plural together when learning a noun. Full grammatical descriptions may group or number the declensions differently.

Examples (5)

  1. en flicka → två flickor

    one girl → two girls

    Word by Word: a girl → two girls

    Most 'en' nouns ending in '-a' take the '-or' ending in the plural.

  2. en bil → många bilar

    one car → many cars

    Word by Word: a car → many cars

    A very common pattern for 'en' nouns is to add '-ar' for the plural.

  3. en student → tio studenter

    one student → ten students

    Word by Word: a student → ten students

    Nouns with stress on the last syllable, like 'student', often take the '-er' ending.

  4. ett äpple → fem äpplen

    one apple → five apples

    Word by Word: an apple → five apples

    Ett-nouns ending in an unstressed vowel commonly take -n, as in äpple → äpplen. A stressed final vowel can follow another pattern, as in bageri → bagerier.

  5. ett hus → flera hus

    one house → several houses

    Word by Word: a house → several houses

    Many 'ett' nouns ending in a consonant do not change in the plural.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the wrong plural ending for a noun group.

    Jag ser två flickar.
    Jag ser två flickor.

    'Flicka' is an 'en' word ending in '-a', so it belongs to the group that takes the '-or' plural ending, not '-ar'.

  • Using the definite plural after a bare number in this indefinite phrase.

    De har tre husen.
    De har tre hus.

    The noun 'hus' is one of the words that has the same form in singular and plural. The definite plural would be 'husen', but here we just need the indefinite plural form.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-or/-ar/-er/-nLevel 1Plural Endings

Learn This First

To learn Swedish plural endings, you first need to understand noun genders (en/ett), as the gender and the final vowel of the singular noun dictate which plural suffix to use.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

And 5 more in the full list.