Swedish Home & Living Nouns: En or Ett?

Home vocabulary in Swedish shows an interesting split. The word for room itself - rum - is an ett-word, and so are most room names: ett sovrum (a bedroom), ett kök (a kitchen), ett badrum (a bathroom), ett vardagsrum (a living room). The rooms and spaces of your home tend to be neuter.

The word for house itself, hus, is an ett-word: ett hus, huset, hus, husen. However, lägenhet (apartment) is en: en lägenhet. So the building type matters. Villa (detached house) is also en: en villa.

Furniture and household items are more mixed. Sofas and chairs tend to be en-words: en soffa, en stol, en fåtölj. Beds and lamps are also en: en säng, en lampa. The word for table, however, is ett: ett bord - one of the most common home-related ett-words to memorize.

When you learn a new piece of Swedish home vocabulary, always learn it with its article. The pattern is not always predictable from the word form alone, and drilling the article from the start prevents persistent errors in natural speech.