The best books to learn Swedish, compared

The short answer

If you are in a class, or happy to work entirely in Swedish, Rivstart is the course book most learners and teachers reach for, and Form i fokus is the usual grammar workbook beside it. If you are teaching yourself from English, Colloquial Swedish or På svenska! with its English study book will be easier to start with, and Swedish: An Essential Grammar is the reference to keep on the shelf. From around A2, add easy readers from LL-förlaget or Nypon.

No book on its own will teach you to understand Swedes at normal speed or to speak without hesitating. Books are excellent at structure and reading, and weak at listening and speaking feedback. We come back to that at the end.

A note on bias: we make a Swedish video course, so we have an interest in how people learn. We do not sell books and have no arrangement with any publisher here. We have tried to describe each one fairly, and we do not list prices, because they vary between shops and editions. Always check which edition you are buying; several of these books have been revised recently.

How to choose

Five questions sort out most of the choice.

• What is your level? Course books are written for a band of levels on the CEFR scale (A1 is a complete beginner, B1 is comfortable everyday Swedish). If you are not sure where you are, our level test gives a rough answer in a few minutes.
• What language are the explanations in? Swedish-produced course books such as Rivstart, Mål and Form i fokus are written almost entirely in Swedish, on the assumption that a teacher will explain. English-language books such as Colloquial Swedish and the Routledge grammars explain everything in English. For self-study at A1, that difference matters more than anything else.
• Self-study or classroom? Classroom books are full of pair work and discussion tasks that make little sense alone. Self-study books give you explanations, model answers and an answer key.
• Is there audio? Swedish spelling only partly tells you how a word sounds, so a beginner's book without audio is a poor buy. Check whether the audio is included, a free download, or sold separately.
• Is there an answer key? Without one, you cannot check your exercises. Some keys are at the back of the book; others, such as the Form i fokus facit, are sold separately.

At a glance

The books, one by one

Rivstart (Natur & Kultur)

Rivstart, by Paula Levy Scherrer and Karl Lindemalm, is the closest thing Swedish has to a standard course book. It comes in three volumes, A1/A2, B1/B2 and B2/C1, each with a textbook and a separate exercise book (övningsbok). The current A1/A2 edition is the third, from 2023, and B1/B2 moved to a third edition in 2025; a new B2/C1 edition is announced for 2027. Audio, self-correcting exercises and answers come as free digital extra material on the publisher's portal rather than in the book itself. Natur & Kultur also publishes Rivstart Yrkesliv, at around B1, for Swedish at work.

What it does well: it trains all four skills in balance, the dialogues are lively and modern, and each chapter gives you things to talk about. Because so many universities, folk high schools and SFI providers use it, you will find classmates, teachers and online help working from the same pages.

Drawbacks: it is written in Swedish throughout. The publisher says it suits self-study, and determined learners do use it alone, but at A1 you will lean heavily on a dictionary and a grammar written in English. Much of the textbook is designed for pair and group work.

Who it suits: anyone in a class, and self-learners who already have a little Swedish or are happy to pair it with an English grammar.

På svenska! (Folkuniversitetets förlag)

På svenska!, by Ulla Göransson and Mai Parada, is an older course, first published in the 1990s and revised since, that is still sold and used. Book 1 aims to take you to A2. It has three parts: a textbook of short dialogues and texts with listening exercises, an exercise book with answers at the back, and a study book (studiebok) that comes in language versions, including English, with pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary explained in that language. The audio comes on CD in MP3 format and is also available online.

What it does well: the English study book makes it one of the few Swedish-produced courses that a beginner can genuinely use alone. The answers in the exercise book help too.

Drawbacks: it looks and feels older than Rivstart, and some learners find the later volume better for practice than for explanation. Editions differ, so make sure the textbook, exercise book and study book match.

Who it suits: self-learners who want the feel of a classroom course with English support.

Form i fokus A, B and C (Folkuniversitetets förlag)

Form i fokus, by Cecilia Fasth and Anita Kannermark, is a series of grammar workbooks: short rule summaries followed by many exercises. Part A is for people who have recently started, B follows on, and C reaches well into intermediate grammar. Universities in Lund, Umeå and Linköping list them on their reading lists. Each part has a separate answer key (facit), sold on its own.

What it does well: repetition. If word order, adjective endings or verb groups keep tripping you up, Form i fokus gives you pages of focused practice on exactly that point.

Drawbacks: it is a workbook, not a course. The explanations are brief and in Swedish, there is no audio, and without the facit you cannot check your work.

Who it suits: almost everyone, as a companion to a course book. Buy the facit at the same time.

Colloquial Swedish (Routledge)

Colloquial Swedish, by Philip Holmes, Jennie Ahlgren (Sävenberg) and Gunilla Serin, is a self-study course in 17 units that assumes no prior knowledge. The current edition is the fourth, from 2016. Grammar is explained in plain English, there is a grammar summary, bilingual glossaries and a full answer key at the back, and the audio of the dialogues and texts is a free MP3 download from Routledge's website.

What it does well: it is built for someone working alone from English. Explanations are clear, the answer key is complete, and the free audio removes the usual extra cost.

Drawbacks: it is a single volume, so it takes you through the basics rather than to an advanced level, and the publisher does not state a CEFR level. Like any book, it cannot hear you speak.

Who it suits: English speakers starting from zero on their own.

Complete Swedish (Teach Yourself)

To be clear first: this book shares a name with our own course, Complete Swedish, but the two are entirely unrelated. We did not write it and have no connection with it.

Complete Swedish in the Teach Yourself series, by Anneli Beronius Haake, is a beginner-to-intermediate book and audio course. The current edition, from 2018, says it maps from A1 to B1. It has 18 units, a verb reference, a glossary, culture notes and listening activities, with about 160 minutes of audio on CD or through the Teach Yourself Library app.

What it does well: it covers more ground than most single-volume self-study books, explains in English, and includes a reasonable amount of audio.

Drawbacks: some reviewers find the pace picks up sharply after the first few units. Check that the audio access works with the copy you buy, particularly second-hand.

Who it suits: self-learners from English who want one book to take them further than the basics.

Swedish: An Essential Grammar and Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge)

Ian Hinchliffe and Philip Holmes wrote the two standard grammars of Swedish in English. An Essential Grammar (third edition, 2020) is the learner's version: jargon-free, focused on what English speakers find hard, and suitable for self-study or class use. A Comprehensive Grammar is the full reference, over 600 pages; its new fourth edition, with Sofia Malmgård as co-author, is listed for 2026 and follows the current recommendations of the Language Council of Sweden (Språkrådet), with a new chapter on spoken versus written Swedish.

What they do well: clear, reliable answers to questions course books skip, in English.

Drawbacks: they are reference books, not courses, so they have no audio and are not meant to be read from cover to cover. The Comprehensive Grammar is more than most learners need before B1.

Who they suit: the Essential Grammar suits anyone studying seriously, especially with a Swedish-only course book. The Comprehensive Grammar suits advanced learners, translators and teachers. For a quick free overview first, see our Swedish grammar guide.

Svenska utifrån (Svenska institutet)

Svenska utifrån, by Roger Nyborg, Nils-Owe Pettersson and Britta Holm, was published with the Swedish Institute for teaching Swedish abroad. The series included a textbook of short situational chapters, short dictionaries, recordings, a grammar, exercise books and a pronunciation guide. The most recent textbook edition we could find is from 2001.

What it does well: many former students remember it fondly, and its short chapters introduce grammar gradually.

Drawbacks: it is entirely in Swedish, it was designed for teaching with a teacher rather than self-study, and some parts, such as one of the dictionaries, are no longer reprinted. Audio on cassette or CD may not come with second-hand copies.

Who it suits: learners whose teacher uses it. For most people starting now, a newer course is easier to get hold of.

SFI course books: Mål and Språkvägen

If you study at SFI, your school chooses the book. Two you are likely to meet are Mål from Natur & Kultur, a complete basic course for SFI courses B and C on study path 2, with Mitt i mål for course D, and Språkvägen from Sanoma Utbildning, written for course B with ten themes covering all skills. Learners on study path 3 often use Rivstart.

What they do well: they follow the SFI course aims, use everyday situations from life in Sweden, and are written in simple Swedish.

Drawbacks: they are classroom books in Swedish only, and are not designed for working alone.

Who they suit: SFI students, who should use whatever their teacher has chosen. Our guide to SFI explained covers the courses and study paths.

Easy readers: LL-förlaget and Nypon

Easy readers (lättlästa böcker) are novels and non-fiction written in simple Swedish for adults. LL-förlaget has long graded its books in three levels, and in 2025 it agreed a shared six-level scale with Vilja förlag and Easy Peasy Publishing. Nypon förlag, now part of Studentlitteratur alongside Vilja, publishes easy-read fiction, some of it also as audiobooks, and a guide to using easy readers in SFI and Swedish as a second language classes.

What they do well: they let you read a whole book in Swedish months earlier than you could with ordinary fiction, and finishing one is a real motivation boost.

Drawbacks: they are not courses, and most have no glossary. Grading varies between publishers, so check the level on the first page.

Who they suit: anyone from about A2. Many Swedish public libraries have shelves of them. Our own Swedish readers are short graded texts with audio and tappable words, free online.

Recommended combinations

Living in Sweden and weighing classes against studying alone? Our guides to SFI or an app and learning Swedish on your own go into more detail.

Books vs video courses vs apps

Books are still the best way to get a complete, well-ordered picture of Swedish. A good course book decides what you learn next, a good grammar answers your questions, and reading on paper builds vocabulary steadily. Books are also cheap compared with most subscriptions, and they last.

Where books fall short is the half of the language that happens out loud.

• Listening. Even with audio, book recordings are short and carefully read. Real Swedish is faster, with ja for jag and dom for de, and you need hours of it.
• Speaking feedback. A book cannot hear whether you said sju or something close to it, or whether your sentence came out in the right order. You can check written answers against a key, but not your pronunciation or your speed.
• Pronunciation. Swedish has sounds and a pitch accent that English speakers rarely get right from a description. You need to hear them, copy them and be corrected.

The fix is not to abandon the book but to pair it. Work through a chapter, then spend the same amount of time listening to and saying the same structures out loud: a video lesson on the same grammar point, easy news such as Klartext, or a tutor. Read the text, then hear it, then say it. Apps help with vocabulary review and daily habit; our guide to the best apps to learn Swedish compares them, and the list of free resources covers what costs nothing. If you prefer to learn mostly online, see learning Swedish online. For the bigger plan, the complete guide to learning Swedish puts books, listening and speaking into phases.

FAQ

What is the best book to learn Swedish?

For classes, Rivstart is the most widely used and the most complete course book. For self-study from English, Colloquial Swedish or Complete Swedish from Teach Yourself are easier to start with, because they explain in English and include audio and answers. Add Swedish: An Essential Grammar whichever you choose.

Is Rivstart good for self-study?

It can be, and the publisher says it suits self-study, but it is written entirely in Swedish and many tasks are designed for pairs or groups. It works best alone if you already know a little Swedish, use the free online audio and answers, and keep an English grammar beside it.

Which Swedish grammar book is best for beginners?

Swedish: An Essential Grammar by Hinchliffe and Holmes is the clearest reference in English. For practice rather than explanation, Form i fokus A is the standard workbook; buy the separate answer key with it.

Can I learn Swedish from a book alone?

You can learn to read and write a good deal of Swedish from books, but not to understand fast speech or to speak fluently. Pair your book with daily listening and speaking out loud, ideally with feedback.

What books do they use in SFI?

It depends on the school and study path. Common choices include Mål and Mitt i mål from Natur & Kultur, Språkvägen from Sanoma Utbildning, and Rivstart on study path 3. Your teacher will tell you which to buy.

Are there easy books to read in Swedish for learners?

Yes. LL-förlaget and Nypon förlag publish easy-read novels and non-fiction for adults, graded by level, and many libraries stock them. Our free Swedish readers are a shorter starting point with audio.

Pair your book with free video lessons

Whichever book you choose, give it a voice. Season 1 of Complete Swedish, all 49 lessons, is free in full, with every lesson playing on its public page with a synced transcript and no account needed: start with lesson 1. Each lesson teaches one grammar point and has you build sentences out loud, which is exactly the part a book cannot do. A free account adds saved progress, quizzes and a word library.