Swedish and Danish

Swedish and Danish are closely related languages. Their differences are mainly found on the morphological level, the main lexicon is identical (or rather, very similar, with systematic differences), and the syntax is very similar. There are some differences, though.

Syntax

Particle order

Swedish keeps the verb together with a conjoined adverbial particle, where Danish separates them.

(sv) Vill du köra in bilen

(da) Vil du køre bilen ind

Swedish moves the reflexive pronoun sig along with the verb to V2 position, where Danish leaves it behind:

(sv) I går tvättade sig Peter äntligen

(da) I går vaskede Peter sig endelig

NP structure

Danish and Swedish have different NP patterns.

(sv) Vita huset

(da) Det hvide hus

(nb) Det hvite hus(et)

(nn) Det kvite huset

In most NPs, Swedish has both the determiner den and the definite form of the noun. Danish, as always, cannot have both. Here, nn patterns with sv and nb with both sv and da (beware of non-idiomatic da, sv word choices, but the patterns are correct).

(sv) Den stora utmaningen är att göra det rätta. Utmaningen er svår.

(da) Den store udfordring er at gøre det rætte. Udfordringen er vanskelig.

Existential sentences

Swedish can use "det" as an equivalent to the English "there", where Danish prefers "der",

(sv) Det kommer en bil

(da) Der kommer en bil

Relative clauses

In N + RC constructions, where the relativised constituent is subject, Danish uses either som or der as relativiser, whereas Swedish has som:

(da) manden somer her (the man who is here)

(da) manden der er her (the man who is here)

(sv) mannen som är här

When the relativised constituent is the object, on the other hand, the relativiser must be som, also in Danish:

(da) manden som jeg så (the man who I saw)

(sv) mannen som jag såg (the man who I saw)

Grammatical words

Modal verbs

Danish and Swedish use more or less the same set of modal verbs, but with different meaning.

(allow) sv: Man får inte röka här = da: man må ikke ryge her = en: one is not allowed to smoke here

Further reading

• LUNDIN AKESSON Katarina (2003) "Constructions with låta, LET, reflexives and passive-s: a comment on some differences, similarities and related phenomena". Working papers in Scandinavian syntax ISSN 1100-097X