Transport and Directions | Swedish Grammar

Getting around is one of the first things you need to do in a new country, and Swedish has a tidy set of phrases for it — but two of them quietly trip up English speakers. The first is that travelling by vehicle uses åka + a bare noun with no article (åka buss, "go by bus"). The second, and the more important, is that gå does not mean "go" in general — it means "walk," on foot. English "go" is a false friend here: "I'm going to Stockholm" is åker, never går. This page covers travel, the åka/gå/ta verbs, and how to ask for and give directions.

Travelling by vehicle: åka + bare noun

To say you travel by some means of transport, Swedish uses åka ("travel, go by vehicle") followed by the transport word with no article:

Swedish	English
åka buss	go by bus / take the bus
åka tåg	go by train
åka bil	go by car / drive
åka tunnelbana (åka T-bana)	go by metro / underground
åka cykel	go by bike / cycle
åka taxi	go by taxi
åka båt / flyg	go by boat / fly

The transport word stays bare — åka buss, not åka en buss. The construction names the mode of travel, almost like an adverb, not a particular bus. Adding en here is the most common beginner error.

Jag åker tåg till jobbet varje dag — det tar fyrtio minuter.

I take the train to work every day — it takes forty minutes. åka tåg, bare noun, no article.

Ska vi åka buss eller gå? Det är bara tio minuter härifrån.

Shall we take the bus or walk? It's only ten minutes from here. åka buss vs gå (= walk).

There is a near-synonym, ta ("take"), which works with the definite form and feels closer to English "take the bus": ta tåget, ta bussen, ta bilen. Both åka tåg and ta tåget are perfectly natural; åka emphasises the mode, ta emphasises choosing that specific service.

Vi tog tåget till Göteborg och hyrde en bil där.

We took the train to Gothenburg and rented a car there. ta + definite (tåget), and note 'en bil' here because it's a real, countable car you rent — not the bare mode-of-travel noun.

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Two ways to say it, both correct: åka + bare noun (åka buss) names the mode, and ta + definite (ta bussen) is "take the bus." The trap is in between: åka en buss with an article is the one that's wrong.

The big one: gå means walk, not go

This is the distinction to burn into memory. In Swedish, gå means to walk / to go on foot — it is not the all-purpose "go" of English. If you are travelling any real distance, you are not going, you are åka-ing (by some vehicle).

English	Swedish	Why
I'm going to Stockholm.	Jag åker till Stockholm.	by vehicle — distance
I'm walking to the shop.	Jag går till affären.	on foot
We're going to Spain this summer.	Vi åker till Spanien i sommar.	by vehicle (flight)
Let's walk home.	Vi går hem.	on foot

Saying Jag går till Stockholm tells a Swede you intend to walk the whole way — a journey of several days. The reason is historical and shared with German (gehen = walk): the verb specialised to foot-travel, and a separate verb, åka, took over vehicle-travel. English merged both into "go," so the split has to be relearned.

Vi åker till Spanien i sommar — jag har redan bokat flyget.

We're going to Spain this summer — I've already booked the flight. åka, by vehicle; 'går' here would mean walking to Spain.

Jag går till tunnelbanan, sen åker jag in till stan.

I walk to the metro, then I go into town by underground. First gå (on foot to the station), then åka (by metro). The two verbs in one sentence.

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Ask yourself: are my feet doing the travelling? If yes, gå. If a bus, train, car, or plane is doing it, åka. "Go" in the English sense almost always maps to åka for any real trip.

There's also köra ("drive"), used when you are the one operating the vehicle: Jag kör ("I'm driving"), Han kör buss ("He drives a bus" — for a living). If you're just a passenger, you åker; if you're at the wheel, you kör.

Kan du köra ikväll? Jag åkte bil igår och är trött.

Can you drive tonight? I drove yesterday and I'm tired. köra = drive (you operate it); åka bil = travel by car.

Asking for directions

The standard openers, all polite:

Swedish	English
Ursäkta, var ligger...?	Excuse me, where is... (located)?
Hur kommer jag till...?	How do I get to...?
Vet du var... ligger?	Do you know where... is?
Är det långt till...?	Is it far to...?

Note ligga ("lie") for the location of buildings and places — Swedish says a station ligger ("lies") somewhere, where English uses "is."

Ursäkta, var ligger stationen? Jag har gått vilse.

Excuse me, where is the station? I've got lost. var ligger... for 'where is' a place; gått vilse = got lost.

Hur kommer jag till Gamla stan härifrån?

How do I get to the Old Town from here? Hur kommer jag till...? is the all-purpose 'how do I get to'.

Giving directions

The core vocabulary:

Swedish	English
Gå rakt fram.	Go straight ahead.
Sväng till höger / vänster.	Turn right / left.
Ta första (gatan) till vänster.	Take the first (street) on the left.
Fortsätt förbi kyrkan.	Continue past the church.
Det ligger bredvid / mittemot...	It's next to / opposite...
vid hörnet / i korsningen	at the corner / at the intersection

Mind the spelling: höger ("right") has an ö, and vänster ("left") has an ä. A useful mnemonic: höger shares its h with "hand" — the hand most people write with.

Ta första till vänster, så ligger banken på höger sida.

Take the first on the left, and the bank is on the right side. Ta första till vänster; höger sida = right-hand side.

Gå rakt fram tills du ser torget, sväng sen till höger.

Go straight ahead until you see the square, then turn right. Gå rakt fram + sväng till höger — the two staple direction commands.

Apoteket ligger mittemot stationen, precis vid hörnet.

The pharmacy is opposite the station, right at the corner. ligga for location; mittemot, vid hörnet.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jag åker en buss till stan.

Incorrect — no article in the mode-of-travel phrase. Drop 'en'.

✅ Jag åker buss till stan.

I take the bus into town. åka + bare noun.

❌ Jag går till Stockholm i helgen.

Incorrect (unless you really mean to walk there). 'gå' = walk on foot; for a trip use åka.

✅ Jag åker till Stockholm i helgen.

I'm going to Stockholm this weekend. åka = go by vehicle.

❌ Jag åker till affären, den ligger på hörnet.

Odd if the shop is two minutes away — you'd walk. And 'är' for location of a place sounds less idiomatic than 'ligger'.

✅ Jag går till affären — den ligger vid hörnet.

I'm walking to the shop — it's at the corner. gå for short on-foot trips; ligga for a place's location.

❌ Sväng till rätt.

Incorrect — 'rätt' means 'correct/right (not wrong)', not the direction. The direction 'right' is 'höger'.

✅ Sväng till höger.

Turn right. The direction is höger (ö).

❌ Var är stationen? — Jag kör till jobbet med tåg.

Mismatched: 'köra' = you drive the vehicle yourself; you don't drive a train as a passenger.

✅ Jag åker tåg till jobbet.

I take the train to work. As a passenger, åka — köra only if you're the driver.

Key Takeaways

Travel by vehicle = åka + bare noun: åka buss, åka tåg, åka bil — no article. (Or ta + definite: ta bussen.)
gå = walk (on foot), not generic "go." For any real trip, "go" is åka. Jag åker till Stockholm, never går.
köra = drive — use it only when you operate the vehicle; as a passenger you åker.
Places ligga ("lie") somewhere: Var ligger stationen? for "Where is the station?"
Directions: Gå rakt fram, Sväng till höger/vänster, Ta första till vänster. Watch the diacritics: höger, vänster.

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