Swedish adverbs: the complete guide

In contrast to adjectives that qualify nouns, an adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or even another adverb.

Here is an example of a Swedish phrase where the adverb modifies the verb:

Example of a Swedish adverb that modifies a verb (translation: “He talks quickly”)

Remark about the direction of the arrows: These diagrams are dependency trees that represent the syntactic structure of a sentence. The direction of the arrows goes from the head word to its dependent word.

Next, an example of a Swedish phrase in which the adverb modifies the adjective:

Example of a Swedish adverb that modifies an adjective (translation: “very clear pronunciation”)

Finally, an example of a Swedish phrase in which the adverb modifies another adverb:

Example of a Swedish adverb that modifies an adjective (translation: “He talks quite fast.”)

Adverbs of frequency

In Swedish, adverbs of frequency are called “frekvensadverb.” They are used to indicate how often something occurs. From “alltid” (always) to “aldrig” (never), there is a whole range of them. Here are the most common ones:

Adverb translation
alltid always
ständigt constantly
dagligen daily
vanligtvis usually
oftast most often
ofta often
normalt normally
ibland sometimes
stundom sometimes
stundtals occasionally
emellanåt occasionally
sällan rarely
aldrig never

In Swedish, like in most languages, adverbs of frequency are frequently used (pun intended). Here are some example sentences that illustrate their use:

Adverbs of degree

Swedish adverbs of degree are called “gradadverb”; they indicate “to what extent” or “how much” an adjective or another adverb applies.

Table: Some examples of Swedish adverbs of degree
Adverb translation
fullständigt completely
helt entirely
avsevärt considerably
synnerligen particularly
mycket very / a lot
väldigt very
allra very
ganska quite
tämligen rather
någorlunda fairly
tillräckligt enough
nästan almost
delvis partly
förhållandevis relatively
något somewhat
lite slightly
knappast hardly

Here are some example Swedish phrases which illustrate the use of these adverbs of degree:

Adverbs of place

If you talk in Swedish about your vacation trip, you’ll likely use some adverbs of place (or “rumsadverb” as they are called in Swedish). They provide information about where something happens.

Table: Some examples of Swedish adverbs of place
Adverb translation
här here
härifrån from here
hit to here
där there, where
därifrån from there
dit to there
någonstans somewhere
annanstans elsewhere
överallt everywhere
ingenstans nowhere
utanför outside
utomhus outside
inomhus indoors
bort away
undan away
iväg away
utomlands abroad

Here are some example phrases which show the use of these Swedish adverbs of place:

Adverbs of time

Swedish adverbs of time are called “tidsadverb.” Their purpose is to indicate when an event occurs.

List of common Swedish adverbs of time
Adverb translation
nu now
redan already
ändå still
fortfarande still
förr before
efteråt afterwards
i dag today
i går yesterday
häromdagen the other day
nyligen recently
snart soon
snarast as soon as possible
omedelbart immediately
genast immediately
direkt immediately
tidigt early
tidigare earlier
sent late
senare later
samtidigt at the same time
numera nowadays

Below are some examples of Swedish phrases which illustrate the use of adverbs of time:

Adverbs of manner

Adverbs of manner are called “sättsadverb” in Swedish. They provide information about “how” or “in what way” something happens.

The table below shows some of the most common Swedish adverbs of manner:

Adverb translation
väl well
riktigt really
verkligen really
snabbt quickly
hårt hard
gärna gladly
plötsligt suddenly
fort fast
rakt straight
allvarligt seriously
dåligt badly
illa badly
oväntat unexpectedly
noga carefully
sakta slowly

Below are some Swedish phrases which illustrate the use of these adverbs of manner:

Adverbs of probability

Adverbs of probability (which are also known as “adverbs of certainty”) are used to indicate how likely something is, or how sure the speaker is about something.

Here is a table with the main Swedish adverbs of probability:

Adverb translation
definitivt definitely
uppenbarligen obviously
visst certainly
förvisso certainly
kanske perhaps
nog probably
förmodligen probably
troligen probably
troligtvis probably
antagligen presumably
möjligen possibly
eventuellt possibly

Below are some example phrases that illustrate the use of these Swedish adverbs of probability:

Swedish conjunctive adverbs

The purpose of conjunctive adverbs is usually to connect two clauses or sentences. For this reason, they are also called “connective adverbs” or “linking adverbs”.

Conjunctive adverbs indicate the relationship between the clauses or sentences that they connect. Examples of such relationships are “cause and effect” and “contrast”.

In the table below are some of the most common Swedish conjunctive adverbs:

Adverb translation
också also
även also
then
sedan then
dessutom furthermore
därför therefore
dock though
däremot however
emellertid however
därmed thus
således thus
annars otherwise
istället instead
äntligen at last
slutligen eventually
likaså also

More Swedish adverbs

Adverb translation
ut out
upp up
därefter thereafter
nämligen namely
hur how
bara only
so
ju right
fram forward
allt all
just just
ännu yet
vidare further
ytterligare further
tillbaka back
igen again
mest mostly
ner down
länge for a long time
när when
tillsammans together
lika in the same way
först firstly
bra well
runt around
längre longer
varför why
för too
hem home
heller either
över above
långt far
fast fixed
minst at least
ihop together
hemma at home
mindre less
alltså consequently
helst preferably
ned down
precis precisely
egentligen actually
faktiskt actually
särskilt particularly
ute outdoors
bäst best
hittills so far
ens even
främst mainly
alls at all
var where
säkert for sure
förstås of course
stort largely
än yet, still
inne in
kraftigt strongly
naturligtvis of course
exempelvis for example
borta away
igång started
rätt correctly
alldeles quite
någonsin ever
ungefär approximately
fullt fully
överens in accord
åtminstone at least
enkelt simply
absolut absolutely
strax soon
enbart solely
endast only
senast latest
lätt easily
knappt hardly
totalt in total
annorlunda differently
snarare sooner
alltför overly
fel incorrectly
extra extra
förbi past, over
gott well
bättre better
högt highly, loudly
någonting anything
högst at most
framåt forward
ända all the way
sist lastly
nere down
uppåt up, upwards
givetvis of course
tyvärr unfortunately
tvärtom on the contrary
starkt strongly
närmast nearest
samman together
visserligen admittedly, although
relativt relatively
närmare closer
ordentligt properly, thoroughly
mera more
speciellt especially
rent purely
cirka about
respektive respective
återigen once again
uppe up
klart clearly
ytterst extremely
efterhand afterwards, with time
ekonomiskt economically
alltmer increasingly
åter again
fritt freely
längst farthest
vart to where
självklart of course, obviously
svårt with difficulty
oftare more often
hellre rather, preferably
djupt deeply
tydligen apparently
förut before, previously
framförallt above all
liksom as well as
öppet openly
förhoppningsvis hopefully
sammanlagt in total
norr north
lågt lowly
dubbelt twice
litet a little
extremt extremely
småningom gradually
tätt tightly
utifrån from the outside
frivilligt voluntarily
därtill thereto
generellt generally
bakåt backwards
värst worst
varav of which
näst next
medvetet consciously
varifrån from where
lagom just righ
gemensamt commonly
automatiskt automatically
billigt cheaply
successivt gradually
personligen personally
igenom through
väsentligt essentially
gratis free (at no cost)
nedåt downward
nyss just recently
förgäves in vain, for nothing
söder south of
jättebra great
isär apart
utmärkt excellently
kontinuerligt continuously
ovanligt unusually
långsiktigt long term
vilt wildly
sämre worse
officiellt officially
fortsättningsvis hereafter
allmänt generally
onekligen undeniably
rimligen reasonably
bitvis at times, partially
verkligt really
självfallet of course
indirekt indirectly
parallellt in parallel
perfekt perfectly
inledningsvis initially
därutöver additionally, beyond that
likadant similarly