Locale Sv 001

Reference data for the Swedish locale — endonym Svenska, written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: sv-001
• ISO 639-1: sv
• ISO 639-3: swe
• Script: Latn (Latin)
• Region: 001 (World)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 10,000,000
• L2 (additional): 3,000,000
• L1+L2 (total): 13,000,000

Regional variants

This is the base/macro locale for Swedish. Region-specific variants in this dataset:

• Locale Sv Fi (Swedish (Finland))
• Locale Sv Se (Swedish (Sweden))

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).

• one — i = 1 and v = 0 (e.g. 1)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Swedish spelling and usage are guided by Språkrådet (the Language Council of Sweden), the Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL), and the Svenska skrivregler. See Locale Sv Se and Locale Sv Fi.

Translate ideas, not words.

• Swedish is direct and informal. Avoid American marketing exaggeration and over-politeness.
• Write compounds as one word ("användarkonto"). Splitting them ("särskrivning", for example "användar konto") is the best-known error in translated Swedish and changes meaning.
• English noun stacks become compounds or prepositional phrases.
• Re-express idioms by meaning: "it's a piece of cake" is "det är en barnlek" or "det är lätt som en plätt".

Grammar that trips translators.

• Two genders: common (en) and neuter (ett); the definite article is a suffix ("en bok, boken", "ett hus, huset") with a separate article before an adjective ("den stora boken").
• Verb second in main clauses; no person conjugation ("jag är", "du är", "vi är").
• Plurals and adjective agreement ("en röd bil", "ett rött hus").
• Passives with "-s" are common ("Filen sparas").
• The pronoun "hen" is accepted in Swedish public writing as a gender-neutral pronoun and is in SAOL.

Register.

• "Du" is used with everyone, including customers and officials (the "du-reform" of the 1960s). "Ni" can sound distant or even rude to one person; do not use it in UI.
• UI commands use the imperative ("Spara") or the infinitive; follow the project convention.

Orthography and typography.

• Keep å, ä, and ö; do not replace them with a, a, o.
• Quotation marks ”…”; decimal comma, space for thousands; dates "17 oktober 2026" or "2026-10-17"; 24-hour clock ("kl. 17.30"); currency "12,50 kr" with a non-breaking space.
• Months, days, and nationalities are lowercase; titles use sentence case.

Common pitfalls

• Splitting compounds (särskrivning).
• Using "ni" as a formal singular address.
• False friends: "eventuellt" is "possibly", "aktuell" is "current", "gift" is married or poison, "rolig" is "fun".
• Using English-style capitalization or month names.
• Direct translation of passive and noun phrases.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Språkrådet (https://www.sprakradet.se) and Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• Microsoft Localization Style Guide, Swedish (https://aka.ms/swedish-styleguide)