Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

To ask "what kind of" or "what sort of" in Swedish, use the special question structure **vad ... för**. While it literally translates to "what ... for," it is the standard way to ask about the type or variety of something.

{{item:914356}}

### The split structure

The phrase **vad ... för** splits apart in a sentence:

- **Vad** starts the question.
- The verb, subject, and any other parts of the action come in the middle.
- **för** sits immediately before the noun.

Word order: **Vad** + [verb] + [subject] + ... + **för** + [noun]?

{{item:914358}}

{{item:914370}}

### Using it with any noun

You can use this construction regardless of the noun's gender, and whether you are asking about a single item (like a lily) or plural items (like roses). The word **för** acts as an anchor right in front of the noun.

{{item:914367}}

{{item:914362}}

### Longer sentences

If your sentence has a longer verb phrase (like a verb with a preposition) or additional context at the end, the rule doesn't change. Keep **för** glued directly to the noun you are asking about.

{{item:914378}}

{{item:914375}}

Asking what kind of (vad ... för)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite ending (barnet, hunden)

Indefinite articles and -ar verbs (en, ett)

Basic word order

Singular adjectives (stor, stort)

Plural adjectives (-a)

Sentence negation (inte)

Yes/No questions

Basic question words (vad, vem, var)

Regular Group 2 verbs (-er)

Short verbs and irregulars (har, gör)

The infinitive marker (att)

Modal verbs (kan, vill, måste, får)

Future intention (ska)

Time adverbs (imorgon, igår)

Word order inversion

Adverbs of frequency (ibland, aldrig)

Everyday things (dörren, stolen, tåget)

Definite suffix spelling changes

Plural nouns Group 1 and 2 (-or, -ar)

Plural nouns Group 3 (-er, -r)

Neuter indefinite plurals

Definite plural suffixes (-na, -a, -en)

Object pronouns (mig, dig, oss)

Reflexive pronouns (sig)

Expanded question words (när, varför)

Which and what (vilken, vilket, vilka)

Coordinating conjunctions (men, eller, för)

Prepositions of place (i, på, till, från)

Quantifiers (mycket, många)

Indefinite pronouns (någon, något, några)

First and second person possessives (min, din, vår, er)

Third person possessives (hans, hennes, dess, deras)

Reflexive possessives (sin, sitt, sina)

The genitive (-s)

Adjectives before singular nouns

Adjectives before plural nouns (-a)

Double definiteness (den, det, de)

Demonstratives (den här, det här, de här)

The imperative mood

Past tense of vara and ha (var, hade)

Possessives for names (-s)

Definite plural adjectives (de ... -a)

Genitive case for names (-s)

Numbers 1 to 10 (en, två, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (elva till tjugo)

Counting by tens to 100 (trettio, fyrtio...)

Days of the week (måndag, tisdag...)

Months of the year (januari, februari...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (första, andra...)

Greetings and politeness (hej, tack, förlåt)

Particle verbs of direction (gå ut, komma in)

Simple past: Group 1 (-ade)

Simple past: Group 2a (-de)

Simple past: Group 2b (-te)

Simple past: Group 3 (-dde)

Simple past: Group 4

Present perfect: Groups 1 and 2 (har)

Present perfect: Groups 3 and 4

Past perfect (hade)

Future predictions (kommer att)

Future with present tense

The adjective small (liten, litet, små)

Demonstratives of distance (den där, det där, de där)

Negative pronouns (ingen, inget, inga)

Universal pronouns (all, allt, alla)

The generic pronoun (man, en)

Possessive generic pronoun (ens)

Reciprocal pronoun (varandra)

Qualitative pronouns (sådan, sådant, sådana)

Habitual time expressions (på)

Specific past time expressions (i)

Past time expressions (för ... sedan)

Future time expressions (om)

Location and motion adverbs (här/hit, där/dit)

Consequences (så)

Correlative conjunctions (både ... och)

Either and neither (antingen ... eller, varken ... eller)

Verbs of opinion and belief (tycker, tror, tänker)

Subordinate clauses (att, om)

Time clauses (när, innan, medan)

Clauses of cause (eftersom, därför att)

Negation in subordinate clauses (inte)

V2 word order inversion

Relative clauses as subjects (som)

Relative clauses as objects (som)

Relative clauses for places (där)

Adverbs from adjectives (-t)

Adjective comparative and superlative (-are, -ast)

Question	Answer
what kind of (in 'vad ... för')	vad ... för
the bouquet	buketten
What kind of bouquet do you want?	Vad vill du ha för bukett?
the florist	floristen
The new florist recommends a beautiful bouquet.	Den nya floristen rekommenderar en vacker bukett.
the rose	rosen
What kind of roses do you have today?	Vad har ni för rosor idag?
the tulip	tulpanen
What kind of tulips do they sell?	Vad säljer de för tulpaner?
I love this yellow tulip.	Jag älskar den här gula tulpanen.
the lily	liljan
What kind of lily is the customer buying?	Vad köper kunden för lilja?
the bud	knoppen
He is buying a white lily with big buds.	Han köper en vit lilja med stora knoppar.
What kind of bud is that?	Vad är det för knopp?
the sunflower	solrosen
What kind of sunflower does the customer want?	Vad vill kunden ha för solros?
The sunflower is very big and yellow.	Solrosen är väldigt stor och gul.
the arrangement	arrangemanget
What kind of arrangements are you making for the wedding?	Vad gör ni för arrangemang till bröllopet?
We prefer a small arrangement.	Vi föredrar ett litet arrangemang.
the decoration	dekorationen
What kind of decoration is she looking for?	Vad letar hon efter för dekoration?
The florist must create a beautiful decoration out of roses.	Floristen måste skapa en vacker dekoration av rosor.
to wilt	vissna
Why are the tulips wilting already?	Varför vissnar tulpanerna redan?
My bouquet usually never wilts so early.	Min bukett brukar aldrig vissna så tidigt.