Questions & Answers about Vi är familjen.
Do we need to change är to match vi, like we do with 'we are' and 'I am' in English?
No! Swedish verbs are much easier than English ones here. The verb är (am/is/are) stays exactly the same no matter the subject. So you will use jag är (I am), han är (he is), and vi är (we are).
There is no separate word for 'the' in this sentence. How does familjen mean 'the family'?
In Swedish, 'the' is usually added as an ending directly onto the noun itself. The base word is familj (family). Because it is an en-word (a noun that uses 'en' for 'a/an'), we add -en to the end to make it familjen (the family).
How do I know whether to add -en or just -n to the end of an en-word?
It depends on the last letter of the base word! The word familj ends in a consonant (j), so we add the full -en to get familjen. If an en-word already ends in a vowel, like pojke (boy), we just add -n to get pojken (the boy).
How do you pronounce the 'j' in familjen?
In Swedish, the letter 'j' is almost always pronounced like the English 'y' in 'yes'. So familjen sounds a bit like 'fa-MILL-yen'.
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