The Core Vocabulary of Swedish

With this book, you will learn Swedish fast and efficiently: This book contains practical vocabulary for both spoken and written Swedish.

Intended for beginners and intermediate students, this book covers vocabulary roughly from CEFR A1 (complete beginner) to B1 (somewhat proficient).

To help you become fluent fast, each entry in this book contains

- English translation(s)

- Swedish to English example sentences

- detailed Part of Speech information.


Why Study By Frequency?:

Not all words are created equal. Some words are used more than other, and are thus more valuable to know. The secret to becoming fluent fast in a language, is by learning the right vocabulary.

Studies have shown that the most used 2.500 words account for 92% of all spoken Swedish, and 82% of all written Swedish text.

How Much Vocabulary Do You Need To Know?
While it's important to note it's impossible to pin down these numbers and statistics with 100% accuracy, these are a global average of multiple sources. According to scientific research, this is the amount of vocabulary needed for varying levels of fluency:

- 250 words: the essential core of a language. Without these words, you cannot construct sentences.

- 750 words: those that are used every single day by every person who speaks the language.

- 2500 words: those that should enable you to express everything you could possibly want to say, although some creativity might be required.

- 5000 words: the active vocabulary of native speakers without higher education. You will understand 95% of all written texts.

- 10,000 words: the active vocabulary of native speakers with higher education.

- 20,000 words: the amount you need to recognize passively in order to read, understand, and enjoy a work of literature such as a novel by a notable author.


Keeping above facts in mind, the value of a frequency dictionary is immense. At least, that is if you want to become fluent in a language fast. Study the most frequent words, build your vocabulary and progress naturally.

What is Inside This Book?
A frequency list of the most frequently used Swedish words, based on analysis of 20 gigabytes of Swedish subtitles, the equivalent of 80.000 books of 200 pages each; more than two large libraries worth of text.