Swedish numbers: counting from noll to tusen
All the Swedish numbers with pronunciation notes. Memorise 0 to 20, learn the tens, and the rest is assembly. Includes prices, age, and phone numbers.
Swedish numbers work like English numbers: memorise everything up to twenty, learn the tens, and from there it's assembly. You will use them within hours of arriving in Sweden, because prices, bus lines, queue tickets and door codes all speak in numbers. Here is the full set, with the pronunciation surprises marked.
Zero to twelve: pure memory
Sju contains the famous Swedish sj sound, the one that sounds a bit like blowing air through a seashell. It takes practice; tap the word and imitate. In everyday speech, nio and tio usually sound like "nie" and "tie".
Thirteen to nineteen
Mostly regular -ton endings; arton is the odd one out (not "åtton").
The tens
Two pronunciation notes worth their weight in kronor: fyrtio is pronounced as if it were spelled "förtio", and in relaxed speech the final -o of the tens often drops (femtio sounds like "femti").
Building the rest
Glue the parts together, biggest first, no "and" anywhere:
- 21: tjugoett
- 35: trettiofem
- 99: nittionio
- 100: hundra (or etthundra)
- 250: tvåhundrafemtio
- 1000: tusen
Written as one long word, spoken as one long word. Tvåhundrafemtio looks intimidating and is just två-hundra-femtio said quickly.
One is two words
The number one agrees with noun gender, the en/ett split from the gender article: en katt, one cat, but ett hus, one house. When counting in the abstract (one, two, three...) Swedish uses ett: ett, två, tre. Every other number ignores gender entirely.
Where you'll meet them first
- Prices: Det kostar femtio kronor. It costs fifty kronor. Sweden is nearly cashless, so you'll see prices more often than you'll count coins, but you still need to catch them by ear at the register.
- Age: Jag är trettiofem år gammal. I am thirty-five years old. Or just Jag är trettiofem.
- Phone numbers: read in small groups, often pairs: 070 is "noll sju noll", then tjugotre, fyrtiofem and so on.
- Time: Vi ses klockan sju. See you at seven. Clock time gets its own article.
Hear them in use
Five everyday number sentences.
Swedish
Jag har två systrar och en bror.
Vi ses klockan sju.
Det kostar hundra kronor.
Jag är trettiofem år gammal.
Bussen kommer om tio minuter.
English
I have two sisters and one brother.
See you at seven o'clock.
It costs one hundred kronor.
I am thirty-five years old.
The bus comes in ten minutes.