Min kusin bor nära sjön.

My cousin lives near the lake.

Breakdown of Min kusin bor nära sjön.

• bo: to live
• nära: near
• sjön: the lake
• kusinen: the cousin
• min: mine

Questions & Answers about Min kusin bor nära sjön.

Why is it min kusin and not mitt kusin or mina kusin?

Swedish possessive pronouns agree with the gender and number of the noun, not with the owner.

• min = my (for en-words, singular)
• mitt = my (for ett-words, singular)
• mina = my (for all plural nouns, en or ett)

Since kusin is an en-word and it is singular, you must use min:

• min kusin = my cousin
• mitt hus = my house (hus is an ett-word)
• mina kusiner = my cousins (plural)

Does kusin mean both male and female cousin? How do you say “female cousin” or “male cousin”?

Yes, kusin is gender-neutral. It simply means “cousin,” regardless of whether the person is male or female.

If you need to be specific, you can say:

• kvinnlig kusin / tjejkusin (informal) = female cousin
• manlig kusin / killkusin (informal) = male cousin

But in normal conversation, Swedes usually just say kusin and rely on context.

Why is the verb bor used here and not lever, since both can mean “live”?

Swedish has two common verbs often translated as “to live”:

• bo(r) – to live in the sense of reside, have one’s home somewhere.
  
  • Min kusin bor nära sjön. = My cousin lives (resides) near the lake.
• leva(r) – to be alive or to “live” in a more abstract sense (live your life).
  
  • Han lever fortfarande. = He is still alive.
  • Hon vill leva fullt ut. = She wants to live life to the fullest.

Because the sentence is about where someone resides, bor is the correct choice.

Could the word order be different, like Bor min kusin nära sjön? When is that used?

Yes, Bor min kusin nära sjön? is perfectly correct, but it is a question.

Swedish word order is similar to English:

• Statement: Subject – Verb – (Object / other info)
  
  • Min kusin bor nära sjön.
• Yes–no question: Verb – Subject – (Object / other info)
  
  • Bor min kusin nära sjön? = Does my cousin live near the lake?

So the original sentence is a statement. If you switch bor and min kusin, it becomes a yes–no question.

What exactly is nära here? Is it an adjective, an adverb, or a preposition? Should there be a till like nära till sjön?

In this sentence, nära works like a preposition/adverb of place meaning “near” or “close (by).”

• nära sjön = near the lake

You do not normally add till here. Nära till appears in a different pattern, for example when talking about distance to something abstract:

• Det är nära till stan. = It is a short distance to town.

But when you directly follow with a noun as a location, you typically say:

• nära sjön
• nära skolan
• nära centrum

So Min kusin bor nära sjön is the natural phrasing.

Why is it sjön and not just sjö? What does the -n mean?

The -n at the end makes the noun definite: it corresponds to “the” in English.

• en sjö = a lake (indefinite)
• sjön = the lake (definite)

So:

• Min kusin bor nära en sjö. = My cousin lives near a lake.
• Min kusin bor nära sjön. = My cousin lives near the lake (a specific one you have in mind).

Swedish usually marks definiteness by a suffix on the noun (and sometimes also a definite article before it: den/det/de in more complex noun phrases).

How would you say “My cousins live near the lake” instead?

You need to make both the possessive and the noun plural:

• Mina kusiner bor nära sjön.

Changes:

• min → mina (because the noun is now plural)
• kusin → kusiner (regular plural for many en-words: -er)
• bor stays the same (same form for all persons in the present)
• sjön stays the same (still “the lake,” singular definite)

Is there a difference between nära sjön and vid sjön?

Yes, there is a nuance:

• nära sjön – near the lake, in the general area, not necessarily right on the shore.
• vid sjön – by/at the lake, more directly next to it or right on the lakeside.

Examples:

• Min kusin bor nära sjön.
  = My cousin lives near the lake (perhaps a few streets away).

• Min kusin bor vid sjön.
  = My cousin lives by the lake (probably with the lake right outside or very close).

Both are correct; which one you choose depends on how close you want to imply.

How do you pronounce sjön, especially the sj sound and the ö?

Sjön is tricky for English speakers because of:

1. sj sound:

   • It is a voiceless fricative produced further back in the mouth or throat.
   • A rough approximation is something between English “sh” and the German “ch” in “Bach”, but with the tongue further back.
   • It varies by region, but you never pronounce it like s + j separately.

2. ö sound:

   • Similar to the vowel in British English “bird” or “fur”, but with rounded lips.
   • Try saying the vowel in “bird” while rounding your lips like when you say “o.”

3. Final -n:

   • A normal n at the end, as in English “man.”

Very approximate breakdown:

• sjön ≈ [ɧœn] in IPA.

So sjön is one syllable, with the sj sound at the start, then the ö vowel, then n.

Is sjö an en-word or an ett-word, and how does that affect its forms?

Sjö is an en-word. That determines its definite and plural forms:

• Indefinite singular: en sjö = a lake
• Definite singular: sjön = the lake
• Indefinite plural: sjöar = lakes
• Definite plural: sjöarna = the lakes

Because it is an en-word, you say:

• en sjö, sjön
• min sjö (my lake – theoretically)
• den här sjön (this lake)

This is also why in the original sentence, if you changed my cousin to my lake (just for grammar’s sake), it would be Min sjö ligger nära sjön, not Mitt sjö.