Describing the Unfamiliar
When exploring foreign cuisines, you might need to describe unfamiliar dishes as "a kind of" or "a sort of." Swedish uses two common fixed phrases for this: en sorts and ett slags.
| This is a kind of flavorful cabbage. | Det här är en sorts smakrik kål. |
| I believe that it is a kind of snack. | Jag tror att det är ett slags tilltugg. |
Notice that both phrases end in an -s. They act as determiners and are always followed by a noun in its indefinite form.
Matching the Gender
Both phrases mean the same thing, but they pair with specific grammatical genders. Match the phrase to the gender of the noun you are describing:
- Use en sorts before en-words.
- Use ett slags before ett-words.
| Is it a kind of snack or a kind of appetizer? | Är det ett slags tilltugg eller en sorts förrätt? |
If you include an adjective, it takes the standard indefinite form that matches the head noun's gender (like smakrik with the en-word kål in the first example).
| The dumpling is a kind of snack with a tasty filling. | Degknytet är ett slags tilltugg med smakrik fyllning. |
| We are tasting a kind of stew at the market. | Vi provsmakar en sorts gryta på marknaden. |
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