When you move somewhere in Swedish, the default word is till ("to"). It marks a destination — the goal you are heading for. This is the word English speakers reach for least reliably, because English "to" maps onto Swedish till only some of the time, and the other Swedish motion prepositions — i, på, mot — don't line up with their location-marking cousins either. This page sorts out which preposition you need when something is moving rather than just sitting still.
The core split: location vs. direction
English uses the same prepositions for both jobs. The cat is *in the box (location) and *The cat jumped into the box (direction) share "in" (with the optional "-to"). Swedish keeps the two ideas more separate, and crucially it has a dedicated goal preposition, till, that English lacks an exact match for. Where English says "I'm going to Sweden," Swedish says Jag åker *till Sverige — and where English might loosely say "I'm *in Sweden" for both arriving and being there, Swedish will not let i do the goal job.
Vi reser till Norge i sommar.
We're travelling to Norway this summer. till = movement toward a destination.
Hon går till skolan varje morgon.
She walks to school every morning. The goal of the walking is skolan, so it's till.
till — movement toward a goal
Till is the workhorse. Use it for going to towns, countries, buildings, people, and events — anywhere the motion has an endpoint you arrive at.
Jag måste till tandläkaren på torsdag.
I have to go to the dentist on Thursday. The verb 'go' is even left out — till alone carries the motion.
Ska vi gå till Anna efter jobbet?
Shall we go to Anna's (place) after work? till + a person means 'to where they are'.
Bussen kommer fram till stationen klockan tre.
The bus arrives at the station at three. Arrival at a goal — till.
Note the last example: English "arrives at" is Swedish kommer fram till. The arrival point is still a goal, so till holds.
i and på as motion-into / motion-onto
Here is the wrinkle. i and på are primarily location words ("in" and "on" — see the location page), but they also appear in motion when the meaning is specifically "into" a container/enclosed space (i) or "onto" a surface or a vehicle you board (på). In careful prose this "into" sense is often reinforced with the directional adverb in (in i) or upp/ut/ner, but the bare preposition is common in speech.
Hon gick in i rummet och stängde dörren.
She went into the room and closed the door. in i = 'into' an enclosed space.
Lägg pengarna i plånboken.
Put the money in(to) the wallet. Motion into a container — i, even though something is moving.
Vi klev på tåget i sista sekund.
We got on the train at the last second. Boarding a vehicle is på (kliva/stiga på).
Sätt dig på stolen, så pratar vi.
Sit down on the chair and let's talk. Motion ending on a surface — på.
The logic: i and på describe motion when the destination is a thing you end up inside or on, not a place on the map you travel to. Compare åka till Stockholm (a city you head for, till) with gå in i affären (a shop interior you step into, i). A useful rule of thumb: countries, towns, named institutions, people, and events take till; the precise "into this box / onto this surface / onto this vehicle" sense takes i / på.
mot — toward (without necessarily arriving)
Mot means "towards" — it points the direction of motion without committing to reaching the goal. Where till says "I got there (or will)," mot says "I'm heading in that direction."
Vi gick mot havet utan att veta hur långt det var.
We walked toward the sea without knowing how far it was. mot = directed motion, arrival not asserted.
Han sprang mot dörren när larmet gick.
He ran toward the door when the alarm went off. Direction of running, not 'all the way to'.
Mot also means "against" (physical contact or opposition: luta sig mot väggen "lean against the wall," spela mot Danmark "play against Denmark"), but in the motion sense it is squarely "towards."
The fossilised till + s-form phrases
Swedish keeps a small, closed set of fixed phrases where till is followed by a noun in an old genitive -s form. These are survivals from when Swedish still inflected nouns for case, frozen into idioms. They look irregular — the -s seems to come from nowhere — but they are a coherent archaic relic, and you simply learn the list.
| Phrase | Meaning | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| till fots | on foot | to foot('s) |
| till sjöss | at sea / out to sea | to sea('s) |
| till havs | at sea / out to sea | to sea('s) |
| till sängs | to bed | to bed('s) |
| till bords | to the table (to dine) | to table('s) |
| till lands | by land / on land | to land('s) |
| till fjälls | to the mountains | to mountain('s) |
Vi gick till fots ända hem — det fanns ingen buss.
We went on foot all the way home — there was no bus. till fots = 'on foot', a frozen genitive phrase.
Pappa var till sjöss i tre veckor.
Dad was at sea for three weeks. till sjöss with the fossilised -ss spelling.
Var så god och sätt er till bords.
Please come to the table (to eat). (formal/set phrase) till bords with the old genitive -s.
Quick decision guide
- A destination on the map (country, town, building, person, event), or arriving somewhere → till: till Sverige, till jobbet, till mormor, till festen.
- "Into" an enclosed space → i (often in i): gå in i huset, hoppa i sjön.
- "Onto" a surface, or boarding a vehicle → på: sätta sig på stolen, kliva på bussen.
- Heading in a direction, arrival not asserted → mot: gå mot stranden.
- A fixed travel idiom → memorise the till + -s phrase: till fots, till sjöss.
Common Mistakes
❌ Vi åker i Sverige nästa vecka. (for 'we're travelling TO Sweden')
Incorrect — i Sverige means 'in Sweden' (location). The goal of travel needs till.
✅ Vi åker till Sverige nästa vecka.
We're travelling to Sweden next week.
❌ Hon gick på skolan i morse. (intending 'she went TO school')
Misleading — på skolan reads as 'at the school' (location). For the destination of going, use till.
✅ Hon gick till skolan i morse.
She went to school this morning.
❌ Vi gick till fot hela vägen.
Incorrect — the fixed phrase keeps its fossilised -s: till fots, never till fot.
✅ Vi gick till fots hela vägen.
We walked the whole way (on foot).
❌ Han sprang till dörren — men hann inte fram. (meaning he ran 'toward' it)
Misleading — till asserts reaching the goal. For 'toward' without arrival, use mot.
✅ Han sprang mot dörren — men hann inte fram.
He ran toward the door — but didn't reach it.
Key Takeaways
- till is the default goal preposition for motion: countries, towns, buildings, people, events — Vi reser till Norge. English "to" is till here, and i/på will not do this job.
- i and på appear in motion only in the precise senses "into" (gå in i huset) and "onto / boarding" (kliva på tåget) — they stay rooted in their location meanings.
- mot means "towards": direction of motion without claiming arrival (gå mot havet).
- The till + -s phrases (till fots, till sjöss, till havs, till sängs, till bords) are frozen genitive relics — a small closed list to memorise as whole units.
Now practice Swedish
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Prepositions in Fixed ExpressionsB1 — A collection of prepositional idioms and the article-less fixed phrases that pepper everyday Swedish: activity phrases (på bio, på fest, i skolan), transport (med buss, med tåg, till fots), and set adverbials (i alla fall, för det mesta, till slut, på en gång). The headline trap: 'by bus' is med + a BARE noun (med buss), and the article only reappears when you mean one specific vehicle (med tåget).
- Preposition StrandingB1 — In Swedish questions, relative clauses and topicalisations, the preposition stays at the END of the clause: Vem bor du med? ('Who do you live with?'), mannen som jag pratade med, Den stolen sitter jag bra i. Stranding is the neutral, preferred pattern — the opposite of the prescriptive English advice that warns against ending a sentence with a preposition. Pied-piping (med vem, i vilken) is formal and literary.
- Place vs Direction Adverbs (här/hit, var/vart)A2 — Swedish keeps a distinction English lost: it has separate adverbs for being somewhere (location) and moving toward somewhere (direction). här 'here' vs hit 'to here', var 'where' vs vart 'where to', hemma 'at home' vs hem 'homeward'. The verb's meaning — be vs go — picks the form, and var vs vart is the single most error-prone pair.
- Verb + Preposition GovernmentB2 — Many Swedish verbs demand a specific, unpredictable preposition: tänka på (think about), vänta på (wait for), tro på (believe in), be om (ask for), tycka om (like), längta efter (long for), bero på (depend on). The governed preposition rarely matches English's, and it's unstressed (unlike a particle), so these combinations are vocabulary items you learn as whole units.