Once you can form a comparative — större ("bigger"), mer intressant ("more interesting") — you need the little words that link the two things being compared. Swedish uses three: än for "than," som for "as" (in lika ... som), and the correlative ju ... desto for "the more ... the more." The first two are quick. The third looks like a fixed phrase but is actually two clauses with their own word order, and that is where the real learning is. This page covers all three, and the placement rules that come with them.
än: "than"
After a comparative adjective or adverb, "than" is än — invariably. It does not change form, and it is never som. This is the single most common comparison error English speakers make, because som is so visible elsewhere (relatives, lika ... som) that learners over-extend it.
Han är längre än jag.
He is taller than I am. Comparative 'längre' + 'än' + the thing compared. Never 'längre som'.
Tåget är snabbare än bilen om man räknar med köerna.
The train is faster than the car if you factor in the traffic. snabbare än — 'than' is always än after a comparative.
Det blev dyrare än vi hade tänkt oss.
It turned out more expensive than we'd expected. dyrare än, here followed by a whole clause.
Note the last example: än can be followed by a single word (än jag) or by a full clause (än vi hade tänkt oss). When a clause follows, it behaves like an ordinary subordinate clause. In careful Swedish the pronoun after än is the subject form when a verb is understood — längre än jag (≈ "than I am"), parallel to formal English. In casual speech you will also hear än mig, just as English speakers say "taller than me."
lika ... som and så ... som: "as ... as"
To say two things are equal, Swedish wraps the adjective in a frame. The everyday one is lika + adjective + som ("as ... as"):
Hon är lika gammal som du.
She is as old as you. lika gammal som — the frame 'lika ... som' marks equality.
Min lägenhet är lika stor som din, men billigare.
My flat is as big as yours, but cheaper. lika stor som.
Det går lika fort att cykla som att ta bussen.
Cycling is just as quick as taking the bus. lika fort som — the frame works with adverbs too.
There is a second, slightly more formal frame, så ... som, used mainly in fixed or emphatic expressions and in negatives:
Det var inte så svårt som jag hade trott.
It wasn't as hard as I had thought. så svårt som — common in the negative.
Spring så fort som du kan!
Run as fast as you can! så fort som du kan — set expression.
The distinction in plain terms: reach for lika ... som by default for positive equality ("as big as"); så ... som turns up in the negative ("not as ... as") and in the så fort/snabbt/mycket som du kan-type phrase. Both use som, never än — equality is som, difference is än. Keep those two jobs separate and the whole system stays tidy.
ju ... desto: "the more ... the more"
This is the construction worth slowing down for. English says "the more I read, the more I understand" — two clauses each opened by "the more." Swedish says Ju mer jag läser, desto mer förstår jag, and the two halves are not symmetrical. ju opens the first half, desto opens the second.
Ju mer jag läser, desto mer förstår jag.
The more I read, the more I understand. ju + comparative opens clause 1; desto + comparative opens clause 2.
Ju äldre man blir, desto klokare blir man.
The older you get, the wiser you get. ju äldre ... desto klokare — works with bare comparatives, no 'mer' needed.
Ju längre vi väntar, desto svårare blir det.
The longer we wait, the harder it gets. ju längre ... desto svårare.
Here is the structural trap, and the reason this is a B1 topic rather than vocabulary. The two clauses have different word order, because they are different clause types:
- The ju-clause is subordinate. It obeys BIFF: subject before verb, with no inversion. So inside it the order is ju + comparative + subject + verb: ju mer jag läser, ju äldre man blir. A sentence adverb like inte would come before the verb here.
- The desto-clause is the main clause, and because it opens with the fronted element desto + comparative, V2 inversion kicks in: the finite verb must come second, so the verb precedes the subject: desto mer förstår jag, desto klokare blir man.
Watch the subject–verb order flip between the two halves in every example above: jag läser (subject-verb) but förstår jag (verb-subject); man blir but blir man. That asymmetry is not a quirk you memorise sentence by sentence — it falls straight out of clause type. The ju-half is the embedded condition (subordinate, no inversion); the desto-half is the consequence stated as a main clause whose first slot is taken by desto + comparative, forcing the verb into second position.
A note on a colloquial variant: in speech you will also hear ju ... ju (ju mer jag läser, ju mer förstår jag). It is extremely common and perfectly understood, but it is considered less polished in writing — schoolteachers and editors prefer ju ... desto. Treat ju ... desto as the safe written standard and recognise ju ... ju as the relaxed spoken twin (informal).
Ju mer man tränar, ju bättre blir man.
The more you train, the better you get. The colloquial ju ... ju — fine in speech, but in writing prefer ju ... desto.
A short, very fixed version drops everything but the comparatives: ju förr desto bättre ("the sooner the better"), used as a stand-alone reply. Treat it as an idiom.
– När ska vi åka? – Ju förr desto bättre.
'When should we leave?' 'The sooner the better.' A frozen idiom — no clauses, just the two comparatives.
Quick reference
| Meaning | Word(s) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| "than" (difference) | än | större än dig |
| "as ... as" (equality) | lika ... som | lika stor som du |
| "as ... as" (neg./fixed) | så ... som | inte så svårt som jag trodde |
| "the more ... the more" | ju ... desto | Ju mer jag läser, desto mer förstår jag |
Common Mistakes
❌ Han är större som jag.
Incorrect — 'than' is never som. Difference takes än.
✅ Han är större än jag.
He is bigger than I am.
❌ Hon är lika gammal än du.
Incorrect — equality is the frame lika ... som, not lika ... än.
✅ Hon är lika gammal som du.
She is as old as you.
❌ Ju mer jag läser, desto mer jag förstår.
Incorrect — the desto-clause is a main clause with a fronted opener, so the verb must invert: förstår jag, not jag förstår.
✅ Ju mer jag läser, desto mer förstår jag.
The more I read, the more I understand.
❌ Desto mer jag läser, ju mer förstår jag.
Incorrect — the clauses are reversed. ju opens the first (subordinate) clause; desto opens the second (main) clause.
✅ Ju mer jag läser, desto mer förstår jag.
The more I read, the more I understand.
❌ Det var inte så svårt än jag trodde.
Incorrect — the 'so ... as' frame uses som, not än, even in the negative.
✅ Det var inte så svårt som jag trodde.
It wasn't as hard as I thought.
Key Takeaways
- Difference uses än ("than"): större än. It is never som.
- Equality uses som inside a frame: lika ... som (default) or så ... som (negative / fixed). Equality is som, difference is än — keep the two jobs apart.
- ju ... desto = "the more ... the more." The ju-clause is subordinate (subject before verb); the desto-clause is a main clause with a fronted opener, so its verb inverts to second position. That word-order asymmetry is the whole difficulty.
- Recognise the colloquial ju ... ju (informal speech) but write ju ... desto, and treat ju förr desto bättre as a frozen idiom.
Now practice Swedish
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Comparison: OverviewA2 — The big picture of comparing adjectives in Swedish: most use synthetic endings (-are for the comparative, -ast for the superlative, snabb → snabbare → snabbast), a smaller set uses periphrastic mer/mest (mer intressant, mest komplicerad), and the superlative has both an indefinite (-ast) and a definite (-aste) form.
- Subordinating Conjunctions (att, om, när, eftersom)B1 — The words that open a subordinate clause and force it into BIFF order: att (that), om (if/whether), när (when), då (when/since), eftersom and därför att (because), fast/fastän (although), medan (while), innan (before), sedan (after/since), så att (so that). All of them push the sentence adverb — especially 'inte' — to BEFORE the finite verb. Two notorious pairs to get right: när vs då, and the subordinator därför att (because, BIFF) vs the adverb därför (therefore, main-clause inversion).
- Inversion After FrontingA2 — The reflex English speakers must build: whenever any element other than the subject opens a Swedish main clause, the subject moves to AFTER the finite verb. Front a time word, an object, an adverb, or a whole subordinate clause, and inversion is OBLIGATORY (Idag äter vi ute; Den filmen har jag sett; Om du vill, kan vi gå). English inverts only in questions and a few formal frontings — Swedish inverts every time. The trigger is simple: anything non-subject in front → invert.
- The BIFF Rule (Subordinate Clause Order)B1 — Subordinate clauses do NOT have V2. The order is conjunction + subject + sentence-adverb + finite verb, so the sentence adverb (especially 'inte') comes BEFORE the verb — the exact opposite of a main clause, where 'inte' follows it. The mnemonic BIFF stands for 'I Bisats kommer Inte Före Finita verbet' — in a subordinate clause, 'inte' comes before the finite verb. The single diagnostic for clause type is where 'inte' sits: after the verb = main, before the verb = subordinate.