Relative Clauses in Swedish

Overview

Relative clauses let you add information about a noun without starting a new sentence. In Swedish, the word som does most of the heavy lifting -- it covers "who," "which," and "that" all at once. This simplicity is one of the friendlier aspects of Swedish grammar for learners at the B1 level.

However, there are nuances worth understanding: som can sometimes be omitted, Swedish has a possessive relative pronoun vars, and the more formal vilken/vilket/vilka appears in written and academic contexts. Mastering these options will let you build complex, natural-sounding sentences.

Relative clauses are subordinate clauses, so they follow subordinate clause word order (the BIFF rule), which is an important detail that distinguishes them from main clauses.

How It Works

Relative pronouns in Swedish

Pronoun	Use	Register	Example
som	subject or object (who/which/that)	All registers	Mannen som bor här.
vars	possessive (whose)	Formal/written	Kvinnan vars son jag känner.
vilken	en-words (which)	Formal/written	Bilen vilken jag köpte.
vilket	ett-words (which)	Formal/written	Huset i vilket vi bor.
vilka	plural (which)	Formal/written	Barnen vilka leker ute.
där	place (where)	All registers	Huset där jag bor.

Som -- the universal relative pronoun

Som is by far the most common relative pronoun. It works for people and things, singular and plural, en-words and ett-words:

• Flickan som sjunger. (The girl who sings.)
• Boken som ligger på bordet. (The book that is on the table.)
• Barnen som leker ute. (The children who are playing outside.)

When som can be omitted

When som functions as the object of the relative clause (not the subject), it can be dropped:

• Boken (som) jag läste. (The book [that] I read.) -- som is the object
• Mannen (som) jag träffade. (The man [whom] I met.) -- som is the object

But never omit som when it is the subject:

• Mannen som bor här. (The man who lives here.) -- som is the subject, cannot be removed

Vars (whose)

Vars expresses possession and is used in more formal or written Swedish:

• Kvinnan vars son jag känner. (The woman whose son I know.)
• Mannen vars bil blev stulen. (The man whose car was stolen.)

In spoken Swedish, people often restructure to avoid vars: Mannen som fick sin bil stulen (The man who had his car stolen).

Vilken/vilket/vilka (which -- formal)

These agree in gender and number with the noun they refer to and are mainly used in formal writing, especially after prepositions:

Form	Agreement	Example
vilken	en-words	Boken vilken jag läste...
vilket	ett-words	Huset i vilket vi bor...
vilka	plural	Vännerna med vilka jag reste...

In everyday speech, Swedes overwhelmingly prefer som and restructure sentences to avoid vilken.

Word order in relative clauses

Relative clauses follow subordinate clause word order. Crucially, the BIFF rule applies -- adverbs like inte, aldrig, redan go before the verb:

Main clause	Relative clause (BIFF)
Jag känner inte henne.	...som jag inte känner.
Han har aldrig sett havet.	...som han aldrig har sett.

Examples in Context

Swedish	English	Note
Mannen som bor här är min granne.	The man who lives here is my neighbor.	som = subject
Boken (som) jag läste var bra.	The book (that) I read was good.	som = object, optional
Kvinnan vars son jag känner.	The woman whose son I know.	vars = possessive
Det hus i vilket vi bor.	The house in which we live.	vilket = formal, after preposition
Staden där jag växte upp.	The city where I grew up.	där = place
Filmen som vi såg igår.	The movie that we saw yesterday.	som for things
Läraren som hjälpte mig.	The teacher who helped me.	som for people
Den jacka (som) du letade efter.	The jacket (that) you were looking for.	som optional as object
Barnen som inte åt frukosten.	The children who didn't eat breakfast.	BIFF: inte before åt
Hunden som alltid skäller.	The dog that always barks.	Adverb before verb in subclause
Landet vars huvudstad jag besökte.	The country whose capital I visited.	vars in formal usage
Problemet, vilket vi diskuterade, är löst.	The problem, which we discussed, is solved.	Non-restrictive, formal

Common Mistakes

Wrong: Mannen vem bor här. Right: Mannen som bor här. Why: Swedish does not use vem (who) as a relative pronoun. Use som for both people and things.

Wrong: Mannen bor här som jag träffade. Right: Mannen som jag träffade bor här. Why: The relative clause must immediately follow the noun it modifies. Do not separate them.

Wrong: Omitting som when it is the subject: Flickan sjunger bra. Right: Flickan som sjunger bra. Why: Som can only be omitted when it is the object of the relative clause, never when it is the subject.

Wrong: ...som jag känner inte. Right: ...som jag inte känner. Why: In subordinate clauses (including relative clauses), inte goes before the verb (BIFF rule), not after.

Wrong: Mannen som hans bil... Right: Mannen vars bil... Why: To express "whose," use vars, not som + possessive pronoun.

Usage Notes

In everyday spoken Swedish, som handles nearly all relative clause duties. You can go very far using only som and där. The vilken/vilket/vilka forms are mainly encountered in academic writing, legal documents, and formal journalism.

Vars is correct but sounds formal to many Swedes. In casual speech, people restructure sentences to avoid it. However, understanding vars is important for reading comprehension at B1 and above.

The ability to omit som when it is an object is a hallmark of natural Swedish speech. Learners who always include som will be understood perfectly, but dropping it in object position sounds more fluent.

There is no significant regional variation in relative clause formation across Swedish dialects.

Practice Tips

1. Combine sentence pairs -- take two simple sentences and combine them with som: Jag har en vän. + Han bor i Göteborg. = Jag har en vän som bor i Göteborg. Practice until it feels automatic.

2. Practice the omission test -- for each relative clause you write, check: is som the subject or the object? If it is the object, try reading the sentence without som to see if it flows naturally.

3. Read Swedish news -- journalism uses relative clauses extensively. Identify them in articles and note whether the writer uses som, vilken, or vars. This builds passive recognition of all the forms.

Related Concepts

• Subordinate Clauses (parent) -- relative clauses are a type of subordinate clause and follow the same word order rules (BIFF)
• Types of Subordinate Clauses (child) -- distinguishes relative clauses from nominal and adverbial clauses