Swedish counting is one of the most beginner-friendly in any Germanic language. Unlike German or Dutch, Swedish goes forward — tens first, then units, like English. Tjugoett (21), tjugotvå (22), no backwards inversions. The system is regular, mostly phonetic, and rewards a single afternoon of practice with a lifetime of usable arithmetic. By the end of this page, you'll count from zero to a million in real Swedish.
What you'll walk away with
- Hear every Swedish number from a native voice
- Master the forward-counting pattern that makes Swedish friendlier than German
- Walk away able to read kronor prices, phone numbers, and dates
The foundational ten — 0 to 10 in Swedish
These eleven words are the building blocks for every Swedish number you'll ever say. Tap any to hear it spoken. Spend a minute here — the rest of the article assumes you've heard each of them.
- 0 — noll
- 1 — ett
- 2 — två
- 3 — tre
- 4 — fyra
- 5 — fem
- 6 — sex
- 7 — sju
- 8 — åtta
- 9 — nio
- 10 — tio
11 to 20 — where Swedish shows its character
Some of these are unique words you'll need to memorize; others follow a pattern. Tap any to hear it. Pay attention to the rhythm — the teens often have a distinctive cadence in each language.
- 11 — elva
- 12 — tolv
- 13 — tretton
- 14 — fjorton
- 15 — femton
- 16 — sexton
- 17 — sjutton
- 18 — arton
- 19 — nitton
- 20 — tjugo
The tens — 20, 30, 40… up to 100
Once you know these, you can build every two-digit number using the combining rule below. Tap any to hear it.
- 20 — tjugo
- 30 — trettio
- 40 — fyrtio
- 50 — femtio
- 60 — sextio
- 70 — sjuttio
- 80 — åttio
- 90 — nittio
- 100 — hundra
How to build Swedish numbers
Combine tens and units forward, no connector needed: tjugoett (21), tjugotvå (22), fyrtiosex (46), nittionio (99). Written as one word, no space, no and. Hundreds work the same: etthundra (100, often shortened to just hundra), etthundratjugo (120), tvåhundratrettiofyra (234). Notice how tjugotvå is just tjugo + två glued together — that's the entire combining rule.
Big numbers — 100, 1,000, and 1,000,000
These three words unlock everything from prices to populations to budgets. Tap any to hear it.
- 100 — hundra
- 1000 — tusen
- 1000000 — miljon
The Swedish number patterns most learners miss
Six insights that turn Swedish counting from "easy" to "automatic".
- Ett and en agree with grammatical gender. Ett hus (one house, neuter), en bok (one book, common gender). For pure counting, use ett: ett, två, tre.
- *The tens drop the o in compounds for some speakers. Trettio and trettie are both heard in casual speech; the written form is trettio*.
- Hundra alone is fine. Unlike English (one hundred) or German (einhundert), Swedish often says just hundra for 100. Etthundra is more formal/explicit.
- Swedish uses a comma for decimals, space (or period) for thousands — Nordic convention. 1 234,56 kr.
- Phone numbers are read in chunks. Mobile numbers (10 digits starting with 07) get split as 070 - 123 45 67 and read as noll-sju-noll, ett-två-tre, fyrtiofem, sextiosju.
- Years are read as pairs, like English. 1985 is nittonhundraåttiofem ("nineteen-hundred-eighty-five") — split into the century pair plus the year pair.
Why Swedish counting is the easy ramp into Scandinavian numbers
Swedish rewards beginners. The forward-counting rule is the same as English's, the tens are regular, and the few quirks (ett vs en, hundra alone) are easy to internalize. If you've struggled with German or Dutch's backwards numbers, Swedish is the relief. One solid practice session and you'll be reading numbers in the wild without thinking.
Ready to count in real conversations?
Numbers are everywhere — in prices, in addresses, in dates, in directions. Lingden teaches Swedish through real sentences with native audio and IPA on every word, so the numbers you just learned become the words people actually use. Free forever for one language. No card required.