många

Många is a Swedish quantifier used to indicate a large number of countable items. It functions as a determiner before plural nouns and translates roughly to "many" in English. It is used with both animate and inanimate nouns, for example många människor (many people) and många böcker (many books). In constructions with a determiner or pronoun, it can appear with av: många av dem (many of them). It can also be intensified with så: så många.

Etymology and relation to cognates: Många is part of a family of words in the Scandinavian languages derived from a common Germanic root meaning “many.” It is cognate with Danish and Norwegian mange. The form mång- also appears in compounds such as mångfald (diversity), mängd (quantity), and mångsidig (versatile).

Usage notes: Många is used with plural nouns; it does not modify singular nouns. In formal writing, it remains a standard choice when a speaker wants to express a large number without giving a precise figure. For more precise quantities, speakers may opt for numbers or alternatives such as flera (several) when the meaning is not about a very large amount. In everyday speech, många is common across dialects.

Examples: Många människor deltog i konferensen. Det finns många sätt att lösa problemet. Så många gånger har jag hört den historien.

See also: mängd (quantity), mångfald (diversity), mångsidig (versatile).