Vanliga

Vanliga is a Swedish adjective meaning common or usual. It describes something that occurs frequently, is typical, or is considered normal rather than exceptional. The word is used to characterize nouns in everyday language, from objects and situations to people and events.

In Swedish, adjectives inflect for gender and number. The base form is vanlig. The neuter singular indefinite form is vanligt, as in ett vanligt problem. The plural indefinite form is vanliga, as in vanliga frågor. The definite singular form appears as den vanliga frågan (the common question), and the definite plural form as de vanliga frågorna (the common questions). A phrase such as vanliga människor means ordinary or typical people.

Vanliga is often contrasted with words like ovanlig (unusual) or sällsynt (rare), which describe the opposite qualities. It is widely used in descriptive language, journalism, education, and everyday speech to express routine, norms, or standard conditions. The word can also appear in fixed expressions and common collocations, reinforcing the sense of normality in a given context.

Translations of vanliga include common, usual, or ordinary in English. In other Germanic languages, cognates carry similar meanings, reflecting a shared Indo-European heritage of describing frequency and normality.

Overall, vanliga serves as a core descriptor in Swedish, enabling speakers to mark things as typical or ordinary without implying value judgments beyond normalcy.