A practical grammar of the Swedish language; with reading and writing exercises ([1904])

SAVE OFFLINE

PRACTICAL GRAMMAR F

THK

SWEDISH LANGUAGE WITH

AND WRITING EXERCISES

ItKADINC

BY

MAY

A. Author of

An

('"ilN'rtinii

l-lu-li-^h



t'ur

Mn.trlish

1

>iah>i:u

an. i

s

I

of

A

iV:c

Q\(

VKN'TII UKYISKi) KDITION

^

STOCK HOLM ADOLF n

r.i.i-i

lioN \n mi-

i

\i

its polar The Great North whence chivalrj" sprang seas, its natural wonders, its wild legends, its antedelnvian a wide field for poetic description and heroic remains,

narrative

have been,

indeed,

Preface

T

(

<

not wholly unexplored.

KING ARTHUR,

EDWARD BULWEB LYTTOX,

By Sir

S

to

>

(

KHOL

I'KINTKIl l!Y AKTIKHiil.AtiKT

1904.

M

V.UUVS I'.OKTKYfKKRI.

Bart.

CONT1

Preface Introduction

............................. ............................................. .........

8,

Alphabet ....................................................... Pronunciation of the Vowels ................................ > Consonants ........................... ditto Accent ............................................................

1!'.

-JO. L'l.

90,

Orthography ................................................... Division of Words ................................................ 36. of Capitals ..............................................

Use

Stops ................................................................ Abbreviations .................................................

37.

Etymology: Nouns Cender

the Articles

.........................................

I".

............................................................

tl.

..............................................................

!;.

Nninl>er ..........................................

..................

l7. Extracts in Prose and Verse 2. Vocabulary ;");").

.

ERRATA. l';i-v

1

lino 21

3

9

5

3,

.">

G

>

8 21

>

i

r

3D 3D 31 32

indepted ()

instead of definitions indebted '

Pronunced

Pronounced

28 27 16

tho the ear

to the ear

ortography

orthography exceptions

1(5

world

2 IS 15

os Lain

or

trumph

trump

25

in

>

is

3

It

>

In

ill

>

to

exeptions 22, 23 officiency

9

23 24 25 29

definition

^>

2< >

I

efficiency \vonl

Lamm

2!

shirt

skirl

2l>

prononciation

pronunciation.

PREFACE. 'h'li

known, that

and it

its

literature are comparatively so little to many a superfluous under-

may appear

to write a pnu-tical Swedish grammar. The author the following pages has been induced to enter upon the task, in the hope that, by opening a way to a more general knowledge of the language, he might give his countrymen an opportunity of becoming better acquainted with the literature of the country, and of thus penetrating to a source of historical records, legends &c. which must be of u reat important-? in researches, leading to a more correct

taking,

ot'

r

knowledge of our own history and language. A glance at the following attempt will show the experienced reader, that there is no aim made at deep research. The object has been to bring together what would in the application of the be most useful in practice language, in reading and conversation. The author supposes, that all who wish to gain the power of speaking the language, will employ a teacher; for those however, who are satistied with merely understanding a book, all that is necessary will be found in the following pages, without any other assistance than that of a dictionary. With regard to the arrangement, the author has taken it for granted, that all who use this work will know from their own language the leading grammatical definition and He considers it rules, and has, therefore, omitted them. most natural, that the pupil begins with the sounds of the language, the rules for which are given in the first chapter, carefully attending to the Exercises given afterwards for that purpose. i>e learned as there directed, the If thes' iea pupil will soon become familiar with the sounds of Swedish words, and may then proceed to the rules for their inflection, or the Ktymology. The exercises* to these rules,

though short *

in the

book, may, by an intelligent teacher

-iven in the Ktymoloiry fT the tlirtVront conjugati Should LM- thoroughly muster ;.ui>il able to writ'' them without fault.

Tin-

-

'

PREFACE.

Z

be made as long as circumstances can render desirable;

and

properly learned and applied as directed, it is hoped on having gone through them, the pupil will have gained a good knowledge of the Swedish Etymology, and at the same time have committed to memory a great number of words and phrases. The pupil having been accustomed to write the Etymological exercises, as appointed, will find comparatively little difficulty in understanding and writing those given for the Syntax. It is, probably, impossible to give any course of exercises which would be exactly applicable to all pupils. One has a good memory, but a weak judgment; another a penetrating judgment, but bad memory one has great applicaif

that

;

tion, another will scarcely look at the book, excepting in the presence of the master: there are, in fact, never two One of the principal difficulties, therefore, in teaalike. ching a language or any thing else, is to find out the disposition and powers of the pupil, and to adopt the method best suited in each particular case. On this account, the author has thought, that a grammar ought to be so arranged, that the teacher is supplied with materials; but that he should be left, to a certain extent, to work them out himself, according to the demands of each pupil. In a class this is more difficult than with a single pupil; but he must then be guided by the majority of the members. An experienced teacher would not be satisfied with letting his pupil merely translate the first reading exercises. He would particularly call into play, the eye, the ear, the memory, and the judgment, in ways which appeared to him best suited for the individual before him; always aiming at rendering the beginner familiar with the various idioms of the language, not only when he saw them, but also when he heard them. Questions should be asked in Swedish, on the subject of the lesson for the day, and the pupil expected to answer them in the same language. The few short hints now given, will, it is hoped, serve to show the author's reasons for adopting the arrangement he has followed; and should his attempt be the means of lightening the labours of his countrymen in their Scandinavian researches, his principal object will be gained.

INTRODUCTION.

Before entering upon the study of ti language, both agreeable and useful, to be enabled to form some idea of its rise and progress. It is the intention of the author to endeavour, in the following introduction, to give the reader such an outline of the history of the Swedish language, as may serve the purposes of the general student, referring such as would enter more deeply into the subject, to those authors,* to whom he is himself principally indepted, for what information these pages may contain. Of the language spoken by the aborigines of Sweden, there are now scarcely any remains. Sigge it

is

on account of his great wisdom called Oden, came, according to the Swedish historians, from the neighbourhood of the Black Sea** into Scandinavia, about 100 years before the birth of Christ. Oden introduced the runes, or signs cut on Fridulfsson,

st

or thin pieces of bark. It was, however, before the people began to understand them; first it was thought a supernatural power which

oiK-H, sticks,

long at

Oden possessed among his other divine Kven the bards, who sang the praises of a

attributes.

victorious

leader or of a hospitable host, were obliged to repeat ' :

S\en>k Sprakliira utgifven af Sn-nfikd Abu >vensk Sprakliira saint kort ofversikt at' Svenska SprtV ket-

(ii-li

Litteratnrens Historia, af A.

I.itteratur-

och Konst-Historia af

/'////.//

>

C. J. 1.

Xilsson, so ably supported in that these immigration^ arc only imaginary, has many adherents.

pinion of

liis

work

nf

1'rof.

S.

Ethnography,

4

INTRODUCTION.

one or more of the persons heart, and by being frequently repeated, they were preserved for a time their

inspirations,

present had

till

learned

from

oblivion.

began

to be

By

them by

degrees

somewhat more

the use of the Runes general, but

it

was not

the

till

any

twelfth century that they were applied to extent.

About the end of the ninth century, Iceland was discovered and taken possession of, principally, by the Norwegians. Here, on account of the isolated situation of the place, the language was preserved for several centuries almost in its original form, and not only are the oldest remains of ancient Swedish from that island, but the earliest accounts of Scandinavia are written by Icelandic authors. The oldest Scan-

and legends that are known were book called the Edda, it is supposed by Scemund den Vise, a priest in Iceland; he died 1133. This was the oldest or poetic Edda. Snorre Sturleson, murdered 1241, also collected a number of legends, many of which have been considered to be founded on historical facts. This coldinavian

songs

collected

in

a

lection is called the

younger or prose

Edda. The

author wrote Heims Kringla, ancient Heroic legends. These works

same

containing

have been

translated into several languages.

As to see a is

will probably be interesting for the reader specimen of the runic writing, the alphabet

it

here given and a sentence or two.

INTRODUCTION.

5

THE RUNIC ALPHABET. H.

Form.

V.

Name.

l-'ivj.

*.

D.

R.

*.

K.

\.

Ur

Thor, Os, Krdor, Kf>n, Hagel. II. I'ronunced. F,F,V. U,V..\. Th.D. H. K,G. <

Form. Name.

Is,

Pn.nunced.

I.E.

+.

I.

The

N.

>,

T.

H.

B.

N

A.

Y.

Ar, Sol, Tyr, P.jarkal, La _'!. .Madur,

A, A.

S.

T,D.

P,B.

M.

L.

s.:

smut' of

the

al'MYe iiu-ntioiio-1 final sylla-

n/, nn, or, the sound is more nly IT learned ly the car. :