svenskan

Svenskan, or Swedish, is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It is closely related to Danish and Norwegian, and its dialects form a continuum with those languages. Approximately 10 million people speak Swedish as a native language, the majority in Sweden; in Finland, Swedish is an official language and is used in administration and education in Swedish-speaking regions. Swedish communities exist in other Nordic countries and in diaspora communities worldwide.

Swedish developed from Old Swedish during the Middle Ages, part of the East Norse linguistic sphere. The transition to Modern Swedish began in the late medieval and early modern periods. The 16th-century Gustav Vasa Bible translation helped standardize grammar and spelling, and subsequent reforms consolidated the standard form in education and media.

Swedish is written with the Latin alphabet, augmented by the letters å, ä and ö. The standard written form, often called rikssvenska, is used in national media, schooling, and official contexts, while numerous regional dialects persist in speech and informal writing.

Phonology features a pitch-accent system with two word tones that can affect meaning in some words in many dialects. The language has two grammatical genders (common and neuter), uses definite forms on nouns and adjectives, and typically follows a subject–verb–object word order in clauses, though variations are common.

Today Swedish is an official language of Sweden and one of the official languages of Finland. It is widely taught as a foreign language and has a global cultural presence through literature, media, and technology sectors.