Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Swedish: Presidenten talar idag. - The president speaks today.

Hardcore Swedish
/Reducing household food waste
/Presidenten talar idag.

Presidenten talar idag.

Word

Presidenten talar idag.

Meaning

The president speaks today.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Swedish

Lesson

Reducing household food waste

Breakdown of Presidenten talar idag.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Swedish grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Swedish now

Questions & Answers about Presidenten talar idag.

Why is it presidenten and not just president?

Because presidenten is the definite form, meaning the president.

In Swedish, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun as a suffix:

en president = a president
presidenten = the president

So in this sentence, presidenten is the subject and means a specific president.

What does the ending -en mean in presidenten?

The ending -en is the definite article for many common-gender nouns.

Here it works like English the:

president = president
presidenten = the president

This is one of the first big differences English speakers notice in Swedish: instead of putting a separate word before the noun, Swedish often attaches definiteness to the noun itself.

Why is there no separate word for the before presidenten?

Because Swedish usually does not need a separate the when the noun already has the definite ending.

So:

English: the president
Swedish: presidenten

A separate definite word can appear in some other structures, especially with adjectives:

den nya presidenten = the new president

But in your sentence, presidenten by itself is enough.

What form is talar?

Talar is the present tense of the verb tala, which means to speak.

So:

tala = to speak
talar = speaks / is speaking

In this sentence, Presidenten talar idag means The president speaks today or The president is speaking today, depending on context.

Does Swedish change the verb depending on the subject, like English does?

No, not in modern Swedish.

The verb form stays the same no matter who the subject is:

jag talar = I speak
du talar = you speak
presidenten talar = the president speaks
de talar = they speak

This is much simpler than English, because Swedish does not have separate present-tense forms like speak and speaks.

Does talar mean speaks or is speaking?

It can mean either one.

Swedish often uses the simple present where English might use either:

speaks
is speaking

So Presidenten talar idag could mean:

The president speaks today
The president is speaking today

The exact English translation depends on the situation.

What does idag mean, and why is it at the end?

Idag means today.

It appears at the end here because that is a very natural place for a time expression in Swedish:

Presidenten talar idag = The president speaks today

But Swedish word order is flexible, so you can also move it:

Idag talar presidenten

That version also means Today, the president speaks, but it follows an important Swedish word-order rule: the verb still comes second.

Is the word order the same as English here?

In this sentence, yes, it looks very similar:

Presidenten = subject
talar = verb
idag = time expression

So the basic structure is:

Subject + Verb + Time

But Swedish has a strong verb-second pattern. That means if something else comes first, the verb still stays in second position:

Presidenten talar idag
Idag talar presidenten

You do not say Idag presidenten talar in standard Swedish.

Why is Presidenten capitalized?

It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

In Swedish, nouns are not capitalized just because they are nouns. So in the middle of a sentence, it would normally be:

presidenten

This is different from German, where all nouns are capitalized.

How do you pronounce Presidenten talar idag?

A rough pronunciation guide for an English speaker is:

Presidenten ≈ pre-si-DEN-ten
talar ≈ TAH-lar
idag ≈ ee-DAHG

A few helpful notes:

The stress in presidenten is on den
The r in Swedish is not usually pronounced like a strong English r
idag has the stress on the second syllable

Pronunciation varies somewhat by region, but that is a useful starting point.

Is tala the most common verb for to speak?

It is a common and correct verb, but Swedish also often uses prata in everyday speech.

Very roughly:

tala can sound a bit more formal or neutral
prata often sounds more conversational

Examples:

Presidenten talar idag = natural, especially in formal or public contexts
Han pratar med journalister = He is talking with journalists

So talar fits very well with presidenten.

Can idag also be written i dag?

Yes. Both idag and i dag are accepted.

In modern Swedish, idag as one word is very common. You may still see i dag in some texts or styles.

So:

Presidenten talar idag
Presidenten talar i dag

Both are correct.

If I wanted to say A president speaks today, how would that change?

Then you would use the indefinite form:

En president talar idag

Compare:

En president talar idag = A president speaks today
Presidenten talar idag = The president speaks today

So the difference is:

en president = indefinite
presidenten = definite

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io