Nouns for People Ending in -ande and -ende
In Swedish, many words that describe people based on an action they do end in -ande or -ende. These are formed from verbs and function like English words ending in "-er" or "-ant" (such as sökande for applicant, or studerande for student).
To form the definite singular ("the student", "the applicant"), simply add -n to the end of the word.
When these -ande and -ende nouns denote people, they belong to a group of nouns that take no extra ending in the indefinite plural.
This means the word for "a student" (en studerande) looks exactly the same as the word for "students" (studerande). You will usually know a sentence is plural because of context words like flera (several), många (many), några (some), or numbers.
This same zero-plural rule applies to other people-focused words with this ending, such as inneboende (lodger).
Bureaucracy and Applications
When discussing students, travelers, and applicants, you will often need related administrative vocabulary. Keep an eye out for the noun ansökan (the application), the verb behandla (to process), and the adjective godkänd (approved).