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:

(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:

(translation: “very clear pronunciation”)

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

(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:

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

• «Han studerar alltid lingvistik.»
  (He always studies linguistics.)
• «Detta händer mig ständigt.»
  (This happens to me constantly.)
• «Det tar vanligtvis ett par veckor.»
  (It usually takes a few weeks.)
• «Han gör ibland grammatiska misstag.»
  (He sometimes makes grammatical mistakes.)
• «Sanningen är sällan så enkel.»
  (The truth is rarely that simple.)
• «Han gör aldrig ett stavfel.»
  (He never makes a typo.)

Adverbs of degree

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

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

• «Jag håller fullständigt med dig.»
  (I totally agree with you.)
• «Det finns ganska många alternativ.»
  (There are quite a few options.)
• «Vi är väldigt glada.»
  (We are very happy.)
• «Han är nästan flytande.»
  (He is almost fluent.)
• «Jag är tillräckligt bra.»
  (I'm good enough.)
• «Det förklarar knappast skillnaden.»
  (That hardly explains the difference.)

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:

• «Vi är här för att vinna.»
  (We are here to win.)
• «Vilken linje går dit?»
  (Which line goes there?)
• «Den finns nog där någonstans.»
  (It is probably there somewhere.)
• «Han är känd överallt.»
  (He is known everywhere.)
• «Sedan åkte han iväg igen.»
  (Then he went away again.)
• «Är det viktigt att åka utomlands?»
  (Is it important to go abroad?)

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:

• «Fortfarande kan vi göra skillnad.»
  (We can still make a difference.)
• «Vad hände efteråt?»
  (What happened afterwards?)
• «Bilden blev omedelbart klassisk.»
  (The picture immediately became classic.)
• «Våren har kommit tidigt.»
  (The spring has come early.)
• «Snart är sommaren här.»
  (Soon the summer is here.)

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:

• «Är den verkligen så viktig?»
  (Is it really so important?)
• «Plötsligt får jag svar.»
  (Suddenly I get a reply.)
• «Det är inget allvarligt så.»
  (It is nothing serious like that.)
• «Förändringen har kommit fort.»
  (The change has come quickly.)
• «Det är dåligt för klimatet.»
  (It is bad for the climate.)
• «Ökningen var oväntat stor.»
  (The increase was unexpectedly high.)
• «Tänk dig noga för.»
  (Think carefully about it.)
• «Länsstyrelsen handlar för sakta.»
  (The government is acting too slowly.)

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:

• «Uppenbarligen lyckades det.»
  (Obviously it succeeded.)
• «Kanske skulle vi göra det oftare.»
  (Maybe we would do it more often.)
• «Det är nog riktigt.»
  (It is probably true.)
• «Förmodligen har de rätt.»
  (Probably they are right.)
• «Troligen också snö i söder.»
  (There is probably snow in the south.)
• «Utom möjligen en sak.»
  (Except possibly one thing.)

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
då	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
så	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