bestämdhet

Bestämdhet is a grammatical category that marks whether a noun phrase refers to a specific, identifiable entity. In Swedish, it is expressed mainly through the form of the noun itself and, in combination with adjectives and determiners, signals definiteness in a clause. The notion is central to how speakers distinguish “the” or “these” from generic or indefinite references.

In Swedish, most nouns form a definite singular by adding a suffix to the noun, depending on its gender. For common gender en-words, the definite form is often boken for “the book,” while for neuter ett-words, the definite form is bordet for “the table.” In definite plural, many nouns take the suffix -na, as in böckerna for “the books” and borden for “the tables.” Indefinite singular forms are plain noun stems with an indefinite article, such as en bok or ett bord, and indefinite plural forms typically lack a definite ending, as in böcker or bord.

Definiteness also interacts with adjectives and determiners. When a noun is definite, adjectives usually take a weak ending in singular common gender, as in den stora bilen (the big car) versus en stor bil (a big car). Determiners such as den, det, de, as well as demonstratives like den här or dessa, can accompany definite noun phrases. Possessives (min, din, vår) similarly modify definiteness within noun phrases.

Bestämdhet is characteristic of Swedish and other Scandinavian languages, where the distinction between definite and indefinite forms is encoded morphologically and syntactically rather than solely through separate articles.