år
/ˈoːr/
The Swedish word for "years" is år.
år is used to refer to a period of twelve months. When stating a person's age, you can use år on its own or you can follow it with gammal to say "years old".
How does it change in a sentence?
Unlike many other Swedish nouns, år does not change its form when moving from singular to plural. The singular and plural forms are identical. To refer to "the years" (the definite plural), you add the suffix -en to form åren.
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈoːr/
Did you know?
- A 'leap year' is called skottår in Swedish. The prefix skott means 'shot' or 'offshoot', implying an extra bit has been shot into the calendar.
- In Swedish, the word år can also mean 'harvest' or 'crop yield'. This is why the phrase nödår refers to a 'year of famine' or a failed harvest.
- Swedish uses the word årstider to describe 'seasons', which literally translates to 'year-times'.
Examples in context
- Jag tror hon är 40 år.I think she's 40 years old.The first example shows how to use år when stating a person's age.Tatoeba #928568 by Tximist, translation #755043 by sctld
- Min vän är sjutton år.My friend is seventeen years old.The second example shows how to use år when stating a person's age.Tatoeba #2165920 by herrsilen, translation #761865 by Zifre
- Han är elva år gammal.He's eleven years old.The third example shows how to use år followed by gammal to say "years old".Tatoeba #2707810 by herrsilen, translation #2706929 by CN
- på 2000-taletIn the two thousands
- på 1800-taletIn the eighteen hundreds
- 131 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Alice and Erik are talking about how long they have lived in the city.
- AliceHur länge har du bott här, Erik?How long have you lived here, Erik?
- ErikJag har bott här i fem år.I have lived here for five years.
- AliceOj, det var ganska länge sedan!Oh, that was quite a long time ago!
- ErikJa, jag trivs jättebra här.Yes, I really enjoy it here.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry år, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
