Swedish Question Words and How to Ask Questions

Swedish questions rest on two word-order patterns: put the question word first and the verb straight after it (Var bor du?), or start with the verb for a yes/no question (Bor du här?).

The question words

Var or vart?

Var asks about location, vart about direction. Use var with verbs of being and staying (vara, bo, ligga, stå) and vart with verbs of movement (åka, gå, ska, flytta):

• Var är du? ("Where are you?") – Vart ska du? ("Where are you going?")
• Var jobbar du? ("Where do you work?") – Vart flyttar ni? ("Where are you moving to?")

For "where from", you'll hear both Varifrån kommer du? and, very often in speech, Var kommer du ifrån? Both are correct. The split version uses var, not vart: Vart kommer du ifrån? is a classic slip, even though "from" sounds like movement.

In casual speech you'll often hear vart for location too (Vart bor du?, Vart är nycklarna?). It's common but non-standard, so recognise it and keep using var yourself.

Vilken, vilket, vilka

"Which" agrees with the noun: vilken for en-words, vilket for ett-words, vilka for plurals. Vilka also works as a plural "who" when you expect several people: Vilka kommer i kväll? ("Who's coming tonight?").

If you're unsure of the gender, Vad för …? is a handy way round it: Vad för musik gillar du? ("What kind of music do you like?"). In speech it's very often split: Vad gillar du för musik?

Hur + another word

Hur combines with other words to make many everyday questions:

Pattern 1: question word, then verb

In a Swedish statement the verb comes second, and questions with a question word follow the same rule. Put the question word first and the verb straight after it, then the subject:

• Var bor du? (not ~~Var du bor?~~)
• När slutar du i dag? ("When do you finish today?")
• Vad gör ni i helgen? ("What are you doing this weekend?")

There's no helper verb like English "do". Var bor du? is literally "Where live you?" Keeping the English order, as in ~~Vad du gör?~~, is the most common beginner slip: say Vad gör du?

When the question word is itself the subject, nothing needs to move: Vem bor här? ("Who lives here?"), Vad hände? ("What happened?").

Pattern 2: yes/no questions start with the verb

For a yes/no question, put the verb first:

Because the word order already signals the question, you don't need a strong English-style rise in your voice.

Ja, nej and jo

Swedish has a third answer word. Jo means "yes" in reply to a negative question, contradicting it:

• Har du inte ätit? – Jo, det har jag. ("Haven't you eaten?" – "Yes, I have.")
• Kommer du inte? – Jo! ("Aren't you coming?" – "Yes, I am!")

Answering ja to a negative question sounds odd to Swedes, so it's worth getting used to jo early.

Checking that someone agrees

Add a tag at the end, the way English uses "right?" or "isn't it?":

Eller hur? is the most neutral. A bare eller? and the casual va? are both very common in speech, like "…, right?" On its own, Va? also means "What?", as in "I didn't hear you", so tone matters. Visst goes at the start and invites the other person to agree.

Polite ways to ask

Swedes soften requests with question forms rather than with a word for "please":

Skulle du kunna …? is softer than Kan du …?: useful with strangers or when you're asking a favour.

Vet du om …? and Vet du var …? are indirect questions: the question sits inside a longer sentence, and that part keeps statement order, with no inversion. Say Vet du var stationen ligger? (not ~~var ligger stationen~~). Use om ("if") when the inner question is a yes/no question. And when vem or vad is the subject, add som: Vet du vem som kommer? ("Do you know who's coming?").

Practise asking

Questions only become automatic when you use them. Try the practice conversations, where you choose what to say at each step, and see how to use your questions to keep a chat going in How to Keep a Conversation Going in Swedish.