Learn Hardcore Swedish: Lampan hänger över soffan.

Lampan hänger över soffan.
→ The lamp hangs over the sofa (both are known/specific).
Lampan hänger över en soffa.
→ The lamp hangs over a sofa (the lamp is specific/known, but the sofa is not).
En lampa hänger över soffan.
→ A lamp hangs over the sofa (the sofa is specific/known, but the lamp is not).

In everyday descriptions of a typical room, using both nouns in the definite form is very natural in Swedish.

Why is it hänger and not something like hängar?

Hänga is a regular -a verb. In the present tense, most Swedish verbs take the ending -r (but the stem vowel can change).

att hänga = to hang
jag hänger = I hang
du hänger = you hang
den/det hänger = it hangs

There is no form hängar in standard Swedish; the correct present tense is hänger for all persons.

What tense is hänger here?

Hänger is present tense. In Swedish, present tense covers both:

simple present: The lamp hangs over the sofa.
present continuous: The lamp is hanging over the sofa.

Swedish doesn’t have a separate “-ing form” the way English does; hänger covers both uses.

Why do you use hänger and not är to describe where the lamp is?

Swedish often uses “position verbs” instead of just är (is) to describe where something is:

ligger = lies (for things lying flat)
står = stands (for upright things, bottles, furniture, etc.)
sitter = sits (for people/animals sitting, or objects somehow “attached”)
hänger = hangs (for things hanging)

A lamp that is attached and hanging from the ceiling is naturally described with hänger:

Lampan hänger över soffan.
Using Lampan är över soffan is grammatically possible but sounds odd and very unidiomatic in this context.

What exactly does över mean here, and how is it different from ovanför?

In this sentence, över means “over / above” in a spatial sense:

Lampan hänger över soffan. = The lamp hangs over the sofa.

Över is very common and can also mean:

“over” (movement): gå över gatan – go over/across the street
“more than”: över hundra – more than a hundred
“about / concerning” (in some fixed phrases): arg över något – angry about something

Ovanför is more strictly “above” (position only) and is often a bit more formal or explicit about vertical position:

Lampan hänger ovanför soffan. – The lamp hangs above the sofa.

In everyday speech, över is usually fine and very natural here.

Could I change the word order to “Över soffan hänger lampan”?

Yes, that is correct Swedish, but it changes the emphasis:

Lampan hänger över soffan.
→ neutral statement; focus starts with “the lamp”.
Över soffan hänger lampan.
→ more emphasis on the location “over the sofa”; stylistic or poetic.

Swedish main clauses follow the V2 rule (“verb in second position”):

Lampan (1st slot) hänger (2nd slot) över soffan (rest).
Över soffan (1st slot) hänger (2nd slot) lampan (rest).

As long as the finite verb (hänger) stays in second place, the word order is okay.

How do I know that lampa and soffa use en and not ett?

Both lampa and soffa are common gender nouns and take en:

en lampa → lampan
en soffa → soffan

Unfortunately, there is no simple rule that always tells you whether a new word is en or ett. Some tendencies:

Many words for people and most everyday concrete objects are en-words.
Words ending in -a are very often en-words.

But in practice, you usually have to learn the gender with the noun: for example, learn en lampa, not just lampa.

How would I say “The lamps hang over the sofa”?

You need the plural forms:

Lamporna hänger över soffan.

Breakdown:

lampor = lamps (indefinite plural)
lamporna = the lamps (definite plural)
hänger stays the same in plural
soffan is still singular definite (the sofa).

If you also want the sofas:

Lamporna hänger över sofforna. – The lamps hang over the sofas.

How are the definite endings formed: why lampan and not lampen?

For en-words ending in -a, the final -a usually changes to -an in the definite singular:

lampa → lampan
soffa → soffan
karta → kartan (map → the map)

For many other en-words that don’t end in -a, you just add -en:

stol → stolen (chair → the chair)
bok → boken (book → the book)

So the pattern -a → -an is regular for a large group of nouns like lampa and soffa.

How do you pronounce hänger, especially the ä and g?

Approximate pronunciation (Swedish-style, not IPA):

hänger ≈ “HENG-er”

Details:

ä in häng- sounds like “e” in English “men”, not like “a” in “cat”.
The g in häng is a hard g (like English “get”), followed by -er.
Stress is on the first syllable: HÄN-ger.

For the nouns:

lampan ≈ “LAM-pan” (short “a” as in “lump” for both a’s)
soffan ≈ “SOF-fan” (short o like in British “soft”)

Can över mean things other than physical “over / above”?

Yes, över has several common meanings:

Physical over/above/across
- gå över bron – walk over the bridge
- flyga över staden – fly over the city
More than
- över tre timmar – more than three hours
- över tusen kronor – over a thousand kronor
About / because of (in some expressions)
- orolig över något – worried about something
- arg över situationen – angry about the situation

In Lampan hänger över soffan, it is purely spatial: over / above.

If I refer to the lamp later as “it”, which pronoun do I use?

Since lampa is an en-word (common gender), you use den for “it”:

Var är lampan? – Where is the lamp?
Den hänger över soffan. – It hangs over the sofa.

If the noun were an ett-word, you would use det instead:

Var är bordet? – Where is the table?
Det står framför soffan. – It stands in front of the sofa.