Many Swedish nouns describing people or professions end in -are. These belong to Group 5, meaning their indefinite singular and indefinite plural forms are identical:
- en arbetare (a worker)
- flera arbetare (several workers)
However, when making the plural definite (e.g., "the workers"), we don't just add -na. The final -e of the stem drops out. Instead of arbetarena, the spelling shifts to arbetarna.
| Indefinite Singular | Definite Singular | Indefinite Plural | Definite Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| en arbetare | arbetaren | arbetare | arbetarna |
| en arbetsgivare | arbetsgivaren | arbetsgivare | arbetsgivarna |
| The union represents the workers at the company. | Facket representerar arbetarna på företaget. |
Other common -are nouns like arbetsgivare (employer), medarbetare (employee), and förhandlare (negotiator) follow the exact same rule: drop the -e, add -na.
| The employers refuse to sign the collective agreement, which makes the union angry. | Arbetsgivarna vägrar att skriva under kollektivavtalet, vilket gör facket argt. |
| The collective agreement is good in itself, but the employees want a higher salary. | Kollektivavtalet är bra i sig, men medarbetarna vill ha högre lön. |
| The negotiators did not agree, which led to the workers starting to strike. | Förhandlarna kom inte överens, vilket ledde till att arbetarna började strejka. |
| The workers rejected the new agreement because they were not in agreement with the board. | Arbetarna förkastade det nya avtalet eftersom de inte var eniga med styrelsen. |
| The employees are united in rejecting the bad proposal. | Medarbetarna är eniga om att förkasta det dåliga förslaget. |
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