Deverbal Nouns (-ning, -ande, -nad)

A deverbal noun is a noun built from a verb — betala (to pay) becomes en betalning (a payment), bygga (to build) becomes en byggnad (a building). This is one of the engines of Swedish vocabulary: instead of a separate word for the action, the language re-tools the verb. Three suffixes do most of the work, and they are not interchangeable — they carry different shades of meaning and even different genders. The trickiest, -ande/-ende, is genuinely unusual: the same word form is a present participle, an adjective, and a noun, all at once. This page sorts them out.

-ning: the action or its result (en-words)

-ning is the most productive deverbal suffix by a wide margin. Attach it to a verb stem and you name the action of Verb-ing, or its result. The output is reliably an en-word — this is one of the gender rules that never fails (see Grammatical Gender).

Mechanically, -ning attaches to the verb stem; after a stem ending in a stressed vowel or -a the form is often -ning (betala → betalning), and after some stems it surfaces as the older variant -an (längta → längtan, "longing") — but -ning is the live, default choice. Its plural is the regular -ar plural: en förändring → flera förändringar → förändringarna.

-nad: a few concrete results (en-words)

-nad is far less productive — you should learn the members of the class rather than coin new ones. It tends to name a concrete result of the verb, often something built, made or felt: en byggnad (a building, from bygga), en kostnad (a cost, from kosta), en bostad (a dwelling/home, from bo — note the irregular form), en ledsnad (sorrow, from ledsna). These are en-words taking the -er plural: byggnad → byggnader.

Where -ning leans towards the process (byggandet, byggnationen — the act of building), -nad in byggnad has frozen onto the thing produced — the building itself. That action-versus-result split is exactly the distinction the next suffix forces you to think about.

-ande / -ende: one form, three jobs

Here is the genuinely unusual part of Swedish, and the reason this suffix earns its own discussion. The -ande / -ende form is simultaneously:

1. a present participle (the equivalent of English -ing as a modifier): ett leende ansikte, "a smiling face";
2. an adjective in its own right, often lexicalised: påfrestande ("trying, stressful");
3. a deverbal noun — and as a noun it is almost always a neuter (ett) word: ett leende, "a smile."

The choice between -ande and -ende follows the verb's conjugation group: most verbs take -ande (springa → springande), but the short verbs ending in a long stressed vowel take -ende (le → leende, bo → boende, se → seende). See The Present Participle for the formation rules.

The same string of letters can be all three things depending on its slot in the sentence. Compare:

The noun leende is fully nominal: it takes the neuter article (ett leende), a definite suffix (leendet), and a plural (leenden, "smiles"). Yet strip away the article and the very same word is "smiling."

The other classic example is boende (from bo, to live/reside). As a noun it has two readings — abstract housing/accommodation (ett boende, an accommodation/a place to live) and, treated as an -ande agent, a resident (en boende, "a person who lives there", with de boende "the residents"). The same form again sits as a participle/adjective: de kvarboende hyresgästerna, "the remaining tenants."

-ning vs -ande: action vs activity

When both a -ning and an -ande noun exist for the same verb, they are not synonyms. The rough split:

• -ning = the action as a bounded event or its result — countable, often pluralisable (en betalning, "a payment"; flera betalningar).
• -ande = the ongoing activity / the abstract -ing, usually mass and uncountable (betalande, "(the act of) paying"; springande, "(the) running").

In practice reach for -ning first when you want "the act/result of Verb-ing" — it is the natural, productive default. Use the -ande noun when the verb has no -ning form, or when you specifically mean the open-ended activity, or when -ande is the established word (ett erbjudande, "an offer"; ett meddelande, "a message"; ett beteende, "a behaviour").

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• -ning is the productive default for action/result nouns; it always makes en-words (en betalning, en förändring) with the -ar plural. Reach for it first.
• -nad names a few concrete results (en byggnad, en kostnad, en bostad) — en-words with the -er plural; learn the members, don't coin new ones.
• -ande / -ende is one form doing three jobs: present participle (leende = "smiling"), adjective (påfrestande), and noun — and as a noun it is normally neuter (ett leende = "a smile"), except when it names a person (en boende = "a resident").
• When -ning and -ande both exist: -ning = bounded action/result (countable); -ande = open-ended activity (mass) or a lexicalised word (ett erbjudande).