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When you step into a fine delicatessen, you aren't just looking at generic cheese and oil—you are looking at specific *cheeses* and *oils*. 

### Sortpluralis (Plural of Variety)

In Swedish, uncountable mass nouns—substances like **te** (tea), **ost** (cheese), or **senap** (mustard)—are typically used in the singular. However, you can add standard plural endings to them to create what is known as *sortpluralis* (plural of variety).

Pluralizing an uncountable noun shifts its meaning from the general substance to "different types," "brands," or "flavors" of that substance.

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### Portions and Whole Units

Besides denoting different varieties, pluralizing a mass noun can also refer to discrete portions, jars, bottles, or whole physical units of the product.

For example, while **skinka** usually refers to ham as an uncountable meat, making it plural refers to entire whole hams.

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### Definite Plurals

Once a mass noun is pluralized, it behaves exactly like any regular plural noun. If you want to talk about specific jars on the shelf or a particular batch of varieties you are looking at, you simply add the standard definite plural ending (usually **-na**).

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Plural uncountable nouns (ostar, teer)

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
to import	importera
the olive oil	olivoljan
the delicatessen	delikatessen
We import exclusive olive oils to the delicatessen.	Vi importerar exklusiva olivoljor till delikatessen.
the assortment	sortimentet
the mustard	senapen
the vinegar	vinägern
The assortment contains many exciting mustards and vinegars.	Sortimentet innehåller många spännande senaper och vinägrar.
to taste (sample)	provsmaka
the marmalade	marmeladen
Taste the marmalades!	Provsmaka marmeladerna!
The delicatessen sells fine cheeses and expensive teas.	Delikatessen säljer fina ostar och dyra teer.
the sauce	såsen
We must import new sauces from Spain.	Vi måste importera nya såser från Spanien.
They want to taste our olive oils.	De vill provsmaka våra olivoljor.
Certain marmalades are however very sweet.	Vissa marmelader är dock väldigt söta.
The yellow mustards are namely very strong.	De gula senaperna är nämligen väldigt starka.
Do you prefer light or dark vinegars?	Föredrar du ljusa eller mörka vinägrar?
Importing wines is something one can certainly do.	Importera viner kan man visst göra.
Our new sauces are completely free from sugar.	Våra nya såser är helt fria från socker.
the ham	skinkan
The customer bought three fine hams in the delicatessen.	Kunden köpte tre fina skinkor i delikatessen.
Are there several expensive hams in the assortment?	Finns det flera dyra skinkor i sortimentet?
These expensive cheeses are fantastic.	De här dyra ostarna är fantastiska.
Christmas	jul
We celebrate Christmas at the family's.	Vi firar jul hos familjen.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year!	God jul och gott nytt år!
the toilet, the loo (colloquial)	toan
Where is the loo?	Var ligger toan?
The loo is occupied right now.	Toan är upptagen just nu.
the ship	skeppet
The ship left the harbour in the morning.	Skeppet lämnade hamnen på morgonen.
The old ship is now a museum.	Det gamla skeppet är nu ett museum.
to smell (give off a smell)	lukta
The cheese smells strong.	Osten luktar starkt.
It smells good in the kitchen.	Det luktar gott i köket.

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