ändelsen

ändelsen is a linguistic term used to describe a suffix attached to a word to signal grammatical information. In Swedish and many other languages, endings are a key part of morphology, shaping how a word relates to others in a sentence. Endings can mark number (singular or plural), definiteness (the vs. a), gender, tense, mood, or case, and they can also create new words through derivation. The concept covers both inflectional endings that modify a word’s function and, in some languages, derivational endings that form new words from roots.

In nouns, endings often indicate definiteness and number. Swedish, for example, uses different endings for en-words (common gender) and ett-words (neuter). Indefinite singular forms are bare (bok, hus). The definite singular is formed with endings such as bok-en (boken) for en-words and hus-et (huset) for ett-words. Plural forms add endings to signal indefiniteness (böcker, hus) and a further definite plural ending (böckerna, husen) for the plural definite form. These endings show how articles and agreement are handled in noun phrases.

Adjectives also carry endings to agree with the noun in number and definiteness. For example, in definite constructions, the adjective often takes an ending that marks definiteness: den stora boken (the big book). In plural indefinites, adjectives take the plural ending: stora böcker (big books).

Verbal endings denote tense, aspect, voice, and mood. In Swedish present tense, many verbs end in -ar, -er, or -r (talar — speaks). Past tense forms commonly end with -ade, -de, or -te depending on the verb class (talade — spoke). The past participle, such as talad, also uses endings to form compound tenses or passive voice.

Overall, ändelsen is central to how Swedish grammar encodes meaning and structure in sentences.