Relative Pronouns (som, vilken, vars) | Swedish Grammar

A relative pronoun is the word that hooks a description onto a noun: the man *who lives here, the book **that I read. English has a small wardrobe of them — *who, whom, which, that, whose — and chooses between them by whether the noun is a person and what role it plays. Swedish is dramatically simpler: in everyday speech and most writing, one word, som, does almost all of it. This page introduces the relative pronouns themselves and the choices that surround them; the full syntax of relative clauses (word order, where the gap goes) is drilled on Relative Clauses.

som: the all-purpose relative

som is the workhorse. It translates who, whom, which, and that all at once. It does not care whether the noun it refers back to is a person or a thing, and it does not change form for subject or object. One invariable word covers the lot.

Kvinnan som ringde var min chef.

The woman who called was my boss. som = 'who', referring to a person, as the subject of 'ringde'.

Boken som handlar om kriget är slutsåld.

The book that is about the war is sold out. Same som, now referring to a thing — Swedish makes no person/thing distinction.

Mannen som bor här heter Olof.

The man who lives here is called Olof. som as subject of 'bor'.

Compare the mental gymnastics English asks of you — who for people, which for things, that for either, whom if you're being careful about objects — and then notice that Swedish quietly skips all of it. If you can say som, you are almost always right.

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When in doubt, use som. It is correct for people and things, for subjects and objects, in speech and in nearly all writing. The fancier words on this page (vilken, vars) are for specific, mostly formal situations — som is the default you reach for 90% of the time.

When you can drop som — and when you can't

Here is the single most useful rule on this page, and the one English speakers most often get wrong in both directions. som can be omitted when it is the object of the relative clause, but never when it is the subject.

The logic is about whether the clause still has its own subject. If som refers to the object — something the clause's own subject acts on — you can leave som out, because the subject is still sitting right there:

Filmen vi såg igår var fantastisk.

The film (that) we saw yesterday was fantastic. som is the object of 'såg'; 'vi' is the subject, so som can be dropped.

Boken jag läste på tåget var spännande.

The book (that) I read on the train was exciting. Object som dropped — 'jag' is still there as the subject.

But if som is itself the subject of the clause, dropping it would leave the clause with no subject at all — so it is obligatory:

Mannen som sitter där borta är min granne.

The man who is sitting over there is my neighbour. som IS the subject of 'sitter' — it cannot be dropped.

This mirrors English almost exactly: you say the book I read (object, drop it) but never the man lives here (subject, keep who). The difference is that English speakers, unsure of the rule, often play it safe and keep som everywhere — which is never wrong but can sound slightly heavier than natural Swedish. Dropping the object som is the more idiomatic choice.

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Quick test: read the relative clause on its own. "vi såg igår" already has a subject (vi) → the missing word was an object → you may drop som. "sitter där borta" has no subject → the missing word was the subject → som must stay.

Prepositions: Swedish strands, English flinches

This is where Swedish and English diverge in an instructive way. When the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition, Swedish overwhelmingly prefers to leave the preposition stranded at the end of the clause — and keeps plain old som (or drops it):

Mannen som jag pratade med är journalist.

The man (whom) I talked to is a journalist. The preposition 'med' is stranded at the end, exactly like casual English 'the man I talked to'.

Det är huset som vi bodde i förr.

That's the house (that) we used to live in. 'i' stranded at the end — completely natural Swedish.

Stolen som du sitter på är trasig.

The chair (that) you're sitting on is broken. 'på' at the end; this is the normal, everyday word order.

English speakers are often taught that stranding a preposition is sloppy ("never end a sentence with a preposition"). In Swedish, stranding is the natural, unmarked choice — there is nothing informal or careless about it. The alternative, pulling the preposition to the front with the relative pronoun (pied-piping), requires switching from som to vilken, and the result sounds bookish and stiff in ordinary contexts:

Mannen med vilken jag pratade är journalist.

The man with whom I talked is a journalist. (formal) Pied-piping with 'vilken' — grammatically fine but distinctly formal/written; in speech you'd strand 'med' and say 'som'.

So the instinct is the reverse of English. Where an English speaker reaches for with whom to sound correct, the Swedish equivalent (med vilken) is the one that sounds overly formal. Use som ... med in everyday Swedish and save med vilken for legal or academic prose.

vilken / vilket / vilka: the formal relative

vilken is the relative pronoun that agrees in gender and number with the noun it refers to: vilken (common gender), vilket (neuter), vilka (plural). It is largely confined to formal written Swedish and shows up in three main situations:

Form	Refers to	Example
vilken	common-gender noun	en fråga, vilken vi diskuterade...
vilket	neuter noun	ett problem, vilket vi löste...
vilka	plural noun	flera förslag, vilka avvisades...

First, after a preposition in formal writing (the pied-piping case above): huset i vilket vi bodde (formal) for "the house in which we lived." Second, to refer back to a whole clause rather than a single noun — here vilket is actually common even in speech:

Tåget var försenat, vilket gjorde att vi missade mötet.

The train was late, which made us miss the meeting. vilket refers to the entire previous statement, not one noun — this clause-referring use is normal even informally.

Hon kom aldrig, vilket inte förvånade mig.

She never came, which didn't surprise me. Again vilket = 'which (whole fact)'.

Third, in formal or legal register as a more explicit alternative to som: de förslag vilka lades fram (formal) "the proposals which were put forward." In everyday Swedish you would simply say de förslag som lades fram.

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Don't reach for vilken to sound advanced — in most contexts it sounds the opposite of natural. The one place it's genuinely idiomatic at every register is the clause-referring use: ..., vilket = "..., which (the whole situation)". For everything else, som.

vars: "whose"

vars is the genitive relative — English whose. It is invariable (it does not change for gender or number) and works for both people and things. It sits directly before the noun it possesses:

Författaren vars böcker jag älskar bor i Göteborg.

The author whose books I love lives in Gothenburg. vars = 'whose', placed right before 'böcker'.

Det är en stad vars historia går tillbaka till medeltiden.

It's a city whose history goes back to the Middle Ages. vars works for things too, not just people.

Grannen vars hund alltid skäller har flyttat.

The neighbour whose dog always barks has moved away. vars + the possessed noun 'hund'.

Note that vars is followed by a noun without an article — vars böcker, not vars de böcker. In casual speech, some speakers avoid vars altogether and rephrase (e.g. författaren som jag älskar böckerna av), but vars is perfectly current and not especially formal — it is the clean, standard way to say "whose."

Common Mistakes

❌ Mannen bor här heter Olof. (dropping subject som)

Incorrect — som is the subject of 'bor' here, so it cannot be dropped.

✅ Mannen som bor här heter Olof.

The man who lives here is called Olof.

❌ Boken som jag läste den var bra. (keeping a 'resumptive' object)

Incorrect — once you've used som as the object, you don't also add 'den'; the gap stays empty.

✅ Boken (som) jag läste var bra.

The book (that) I read was good.

❌ Mannen med vem jag pratade... (using 'vem' as a relative)

Incorrect — 'vem' is only a QUESTION word ('who?'). The relative is 'som', or formally 'vilken'.

✅ Mannen som jag pratade med...

The man (whom) I talked to...

❌ Huset i som vi bodde... (stranding rule confused)

Incorrect — you cannot put a preposition before 'som'. Either strand it (som vi bodde i) or pied-pipe with vilken (i vilket vi bodde).

✅ Huset som vi bodde i...

The house (that) we lived in... (everyday); formal: huset i vilket vi bodde.

❌ Författaren som böcker jag älskar... (using som for 'whose')

Incorrect — possession needs the genitive relative 'vars', not 'som'.

✅ Författaren vars böcker jag älskar...

The author whose books I love...

Key Takeaways

som is the all-purpose relative: who, whom, which, that, for people and things, subject or object, in nearly every context. When in doubt, use it.
Drop som when it's the object (boken jag läste); keep it when it's the subject (mannen som bor här). Read the clause alone — if it already has a subject, you may drop som.
Swedish strands prepositions at the end (mannen som jag pratade med) as the natural choice. Pulling the preposition forward forces vilken (med vilken) and sounds formal — the opposite of the English instinct.
vilken / vilket / vilka agree in gender/number and belong to formal writing — except the clause-referring vilket ("..., which"), which is natural everywhere.
vars = "whose," invariable, for people and things, placed straight before the possessed noun with no article.

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