Spoken vs written Swedish: dom, mej, nån, sa and other real forms

The short answer

Spoken Swedish is not a sloppy version of written Swedish. It is the same language with a set of regular, predictable short forms that every Swede uses, from teenagers to news presenters in an interview. De and dem are both said dom. Mig, dig, sig are said mej, dej, sej, almost without exception. Jag often becomes ja, det becomes de, är becomes e, och and att both become å, någon becomes nån, and sade is just sa. A sentence written Jag vet inte vad det är usually comes out as Ja vet inte va de e.

Once you know the twenty or so forms on this page, fast Swedish gets dramatically easier to follow. This guide lists them, says which ones you can also write, and explains why the subtitles on Swedish TV rarely match what people actually say.

The big table

"OK in writing" means you will see it in ordinary prose without anyone frowning. "Informal" means texts, chat, social media, dialogue in novels. "No" means the short form is a pronunciation only: everyone says it, nobody writes it outside very casual messages.

Pronouns: dom, mej, dej, sej

Dom for de and dem

In writing, Swedish has two forms for "they": de (subject) and dem (object). In speech, most Swedes use dom for both.

Notice the last two: de is also the plural article before adjectives, and that is dom in speech too.

Dom is in the Swedish Academy's word list (SAOL) as an informal form, and you will see it in chat and in dialogue. In formal writing, use de and dem. Whether Swedish should simply adopt dom in writing is one of the country's longest-running language debates, and the head of Språkrådet (the Language Council of Sweden) has spoken in favour of it, but as of today the standard written language still separates de and dem. A quick test if you are unsure which to write: if English would say "they", write de; if English says "them", write dem.

Some speakers, especially in formal reading or in some regions, pronounce the written forms as di and dem. You will understand both.

Mej, dej, sej

This one surprises learners: mig, dig, sig are almost never pronounced as spelt; a hard g turns up mainly in old songs and hymns, for the rhyme. News presenters, priests and professors all say mej, dej, sej. So this is not slang, just old spelling.

• Kan du hjälpa mig? is said "Kan du hjälpa mej?" (Can you help me?)
• Jag älskar dig is said "Ja älskar dej." (I love you.)
• Han satte sig is said "Han satte sej." (He sat down.)

Writing mej and dej is common in texts and songs. In anything formal, write mig, dig, sig.

Ja for jag

Jag loses its g in most everyday speech: Ja vet inte (I don't know), Ja kommer (I'm coming). The full jag with a hard g appears when the word is stressed: Det var JAG som ringde (It was ME who called). The same happens to dag: i två dar (for two days), god da (good day, old-fashioned).

The little words: de, e, å, va, me

These words are so frequent that they are worn down to a single syllable, and they often run into the next word.

De for det

Det is pronounced de almost everywhere: Det är bra comes out "De e bra." That is why learners sometimes cannot tell de (they, written) and det (it) apart when listening: in speech they sound the same, and you work it out from context. The plural de has a separate spoken form, dom, which helps.

The final -t also falls off in other places in relaxed central Swedish speech, for example in definite neuter nouns: huset (the house) can sound like "huse" and bordet (the table) like "bore". It is a pronunciation habit, so keep the -t in writing.

E for är

Är (is, am, are) is often reduced to a short e: Var är du? becomes "Va e du?" (Where are you?). Vad är det? becomes "Va e de?" (What is it?).

Å for och and att

The spoken form of both och (and) and the infinitive marker att (to) is å.

This is the source of a classic spelling mistake among Swedes themselves: because och and att sound identical, people mix them up in writing. If you can put "to" in English, write att; if you can put "and", write och.

Va for vad

Vad (what) is said va: Vad heter du? becomes "Va heter du?" (What's your name?). A short Va? is also how you say "Sorry?" or "What?" when you did not hear something. Va is so common in chat that it is often written that way, but standard writing keeps vad.

Do not confuse it with var (where, was), which in fast speech can also lose its r. Context sorts it out.

Me for med

Med (with) loses its d: Följer du med? is said "Följer du me?" (Are you coming along?) and kaffe med mjölk is "kaffe me mjölk".

Shortened words: nån, nåt, sån, sen, mycke

Several common words have a short spoken form that has become acceptable in informal writing.

Sen is so established that it is fine in almost all writing except the most formal. Nån, nåt, sån are normal in emails between friends, in chat and in dialogue, but in a job application or an official letter write någon, något, sådan. Mycke and sku are pronunciation only, and sku is regional (common in the north and in Finland Swedish) rather than general.

The same goes for va in ska va (should be): Det ska va gott (It's supposed to be good) is how people say Det ska vara gott. The infinitive vara is very often reduced to va after a modal verb.

Verb forms: sa, la, ska, ta, ge, bli

Here spoken Swedish has largely won. Many short forms that were once only spoken are now the normal written forms.

Ta, ge, bli, dra, ha are simply the standard forms now; the long ones survive only in old texts, hymns and fixed phrases. Ska replaced skall in most official writing after Språkrådet's writing rules for public authorities recommended it, and laws and government texts now use ska too. Sa and la are accepted in ordinary writing; sade and lade are still common in newspapers and sound slightly more formal. Both are correct, so choose one and stick with it in a text.

Säga (say) and lägga (put) also change sound in the present tense: säger is usually said "säjer" and lägger "läjer". This is normal pronunciation, not slang.

Fast speech: when words merge

In relaxed conversation, short words fuse into the word before them. Learners often hear these as mysterious new words.

Two habits are worth knowing:

1. Pronouns after a verb lose their first sound. Har du becomes "harru", är det becomes "ä're", vet du becomes "vettu". The d of du and det blends into the verb.
2. The subject is dropped in set phrases. Vet inte (Dunno), Tror det (I think so), Låter bra (Sounds good), Kommer strax (Coming in a minute). English does the same thing.

Do not try to copy all of this at once. Understanding it matters far more than producing it, and a learner who says ja and de naturally will already sound fluent.

Dropped words: att and verbs of motion

Spoken Swedish drops the att in kommer att: Det kommer regna (It's going to rain) is more common in speech than Det kommer att regna. Språkrådet does not treat the short form as an error, but recommends keeping the att in formal writing. There is more on this in our guide to ska or kommer att.

Speech also drops verbs of motion after modal verbs, which is fully correct in writing too: Jag ska hem (I'm going home), Jag måste till jobbet (I have to go to work). See the guide to Swedish modal verbs.

Why subtitles and speech differ

If you watch Swedish TV with Swedish subtitles, you will notice the text often does not match the words. That is on purpose.

• Subtitles use written standard forms. The speaker says "Ja vet inte va dom ska göra", the subtitle reads Jag vet inte vad de ska göra. Subtitlers write jag, det, de, dem, och, att, mycket, never the spoken forms.
• Subtitles are shortened. People speak faster than viewers can read, so subtitles leave out repetitions, fillers like liksom, asså and typ, false starts and some whole clauses. A ten-word sentence may become five words on screen.
• Subtitles tidy up word order and grammar. Spoken Swedish breaks the word order rules now and then, especially after att; subtitles usually follow the written rule.

So subtitles are excellent for checking meaning, but they will not teach you what Swedes actually sound like. The best combination is a transcript that follows the speech closely and audio you can replay sentence by sentence. Our dictation tool trains exactly this: you hear a spoken sentence and write it in standard spelling, which forces you to map dom to de or dem and å to och or att.

How this affects your own Swedish

• Say mej, dej, sej. Pronouncing mig with a hard g is the most common beginner giveaway.
• Say dom. Saying de and dem as written sounds stiff in conversation.
• Use ja, de, e and å when they come naturally, but you do not have to force them. Clear full forms are always understood.
• Write the standard forms in anything formal: jag, det, är, och, att, vad, någon, de, dem.
• Learn to hear the short forms first. It is a listening skill before it is a speaking skill. The pronunciation trainer and the Swedish pronunciation guide cover the sounds behind them.

FAQ

Do Swedes say "dom" or "de"?

Almost all Swedes say dom for both de (they) and dem (them) in everyday speech. In writing, the standard is still de and dem, although dom is listed in SAOL as an informal form and appears in chat and dialogue.

Why is "mig" pronounced "mej"?

The spelling mig, dig, sig is older than today's pronunciation. The words have been pronounced mej, dej, sej for centuries, and the spelling was never changed. It is the standard pronunciation, not slang.

Is it wrong to write "sa" instead of "sade"?

No. Sa and la are accepted in ordinary written Swedish, and many newspapers and authors use them. Sade and lade are slightly more formal. Use one form consistently in the same text.

Should I write "ska" or "skall"?

Ska. It is the standard form today, recommended in Språkrådet's writing rules for public authorities and used in Swedish legislation. Skall is old-fashioned.

Why don't Swedish subtitles match what people say?

Subtitles are written in standard Swedish and shortened to fit reading speed. They use forms like jag, det and de where speakers say ja, de and dom, and they drop fillers and repetitions.

Can I use "nån" and "nåt" in writing?

In texts, chat and informal emails, yes. In formal writing such as job applications, reports or letters to authorities, write någon and något.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-07.

• Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL), 14th edition, at svenska.se: entries for dom, mej, nån, sa, ska.
• Språkrådet, Myndigheternas skrivregler (8th edition, 2014), Institutet för språk och folkminnen, on ska versus skall and other forms in official writing. isof.se
• Språkrådet, Språkriktighetsboken (2005), on sa/sade, la/lade, de/dem/dom and kommer att.
• Teleman, Ulf, Staffan Hellberg & Erik Andersson (1999). Svenska Akademiens grammatik. Svenska Akademien.
• SVT, "Språkrådets nya chef förespråkar en dom-reform", on the current debate about writing dom.

Keep going

The fastest way to tune your ear to real Swedish is to listen to real speakers with a transcript you can trust. Our free Season 1 course uses natural spoken Swedish with synced, standard-spelling transcripts, so you learn to hear dom and read de. Start the free course.