Swedish personal pronouns, and how to introduce yourself
The Swedish pronouns jag, du, han, hon, hen, vi, ni, de, with the pronunciation traps, plus the four sentences that make a first introduction.
Swedish personal pronouns are a small, friendly set: no cases to memorise beyond subject and object, no formal "you" to worry about, and one modern addition (hen) that English speakers pick up instantly. This article gives you the full subject pronoun table, the three things about it that actually trip learners up, and the four sentences you need to introduce yourself.
The subject pronouns
Two "it" pronouns look alarming on day one. They're not: Swedish nouns come in two genders (en words and ett words, covered in its own article in this series), and den and det simply match. For now, notice that det is also the default "it" in phrases like det regnar (it's raining).
Hen, the newest pronoun
Hen is a relatively recent addition to standard Swedish. It was added to SAOL, the standard Swedish dictionary, in 2015. It's used when gender isn't specified, when it doesn't matter, or as the chosen pronoun of a non-binary person. Not every Swede uses it in casual speech, but it is correct standard Swedish, you'll see it in writing, and inclusive contexts default to it.
De and dem are both said "dom"
De and dem are the most jarring spelling-to-sound mismatch in Swedish. De (they, subject) is written "de" but said "dom". Dem (them, object) is written "dem" but also said "dom". In speech they sound identical. So common is the "dom" pronunciation that some informal writing now just spells both as dom. The official spelling is still de and dem, and that's what you'll see in books, newspapers, and here.
Du is for everyone
In many European languages there's a formal singular "you" addressed politely to one person. Swedish used to have this too (ni as formal singular), but it was almost entirely abandoned in the 1960s in a shift known as du-reformen. Today du is used with absolutely everyone, including your boss, your doctor, and strangers on the street. Ni is now strictly plural: it's what you say to two or more people. Using ni to be polite to one person will read as odd, or even distant, to most Swedes.
Introducing yourself: the four sentences
Four phrases will carry you through most first-meeting situations. Swap Sara, Tyskland, and Uppsala for your own name, country, and city.
- Jag heter Sara. I'm called Sara.
- Jag är Sara. I am Sara.
- Jag är från Tyskland. I'm from Germany.
- Jag bor i Uppsala. I live in Uppsala.
Heter literally means "am called". It's the standard Swedish way to say your name. Jag är Sara also works, but Jag heter Sara is more common as the very first thing you say.
To ask for someone else's name, turn it around: Vad heter du? (What's your name? Literally: what are you called?)
Notice what you're not doing: no conjugation tables yet. Heter, är, and bor stay in exactly this form with every subject pronoun in the present tense, so you can treat these four sentences as fixed building blocks and swap the names. How Swedish verbs actually work gets its own article.
Hear it as one introduction
Chained together, the pieces make a complete self-introduction. Play it, then try saying it with your own details.
Swedish
Hej! Jag heter Sara.
Jag är från Tyskland.
Jag bor i Uppsala.
Vad heter du?
Trevligt att träffas.
English
Hi! My name is Sara.
I'm from Germany.
I live in Uppsala.
What's your name?
Nice to meet you.