languagesSwedish

Swedish, or svenska, is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland. It belongs to the East Scandinavian subgroup and is closely related to Norwegian and Danish. The three languages share substantial mutual intelligibility, especially Swedish and Norwegian.

In Sweden, Swedish is the national language and the main medium of instruction, media, and administration. In Finland it is one of the two official national languages, and on the Åland Islands it is the sole official language. Worldwide, Swedish is spoken in immigrant communities and by diaspora populations.

Swedish evolved from Old East Norse, with Old Swedish attested in medieval texts. Danish influence during the Kalmar Union and subsequent centuries helped shape its early standard. Modern rikssvenska developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, reinforced by education reforms and standard dictionaries.

Swedish uses the Latin alphabet with 29 letters, including the three extra vowels å, ä, and ö. It features a pitch-accent system with two tones that can distinguish meaning, and it has a vowel-length distinction in some phonetic contexts. The orthography is generally phonemic for many common spellings and is standardized in national curricula and dictionaries.

Dialects are diverse, grouped into regional varieties such as Svealand, Gotland, Götaland, and Norrland, with Finland Swedish as a distinct regional variant. Rikssvenska is the standard form used in media and education. Swedish has loanwords from German, French, and English, and its vocabulary continues to adapt to new technological and social terms.