COLORS in Swedish (färger på svenska) - How to use them with plural, en and ett

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[mate_con_choripan]

Tjena! Swedish learner here.

You might have noticed that, except for colors like "rosa" or "lila" (which seem like irregular adjectives), you always add an -a at the end when the noun is plural or definite.

But what about -t?
- Why blå and grå turn into blått and grått with double t?
- Why svart stays the same?
- Why röd turns into rött, transforming the d into a t?

Well, I found a pattern when adding -t. However, I'm a beginner, so TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT: maybe it's not a real rule.

The pattern is:
"Add final t's until the word ends with 2 consonants"
If we follow this pattern:

- blå has 0 final consonants --> add 2 t's to end with double consonant --> we get blått
- grå has 0 final consonants --> add 2 t's to end with double consonant --> we get grått

- grön has 1 final consonant (n) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get grönt
- gul has 1 final consonant (l) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get gult
- vit has 1 final consonant (t) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get vitt
- brun has 1 final consonant (n) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get brunt
- röd has 1 final consonant (d) --> add 1 t to end with double consonant --> we get rödt**

- svart has 2 final consonants (rt) --> actually, don't add t's, it already ends with double consonant --> we get svart

**Well, no, actually it's rött, but it makes sense! On a technical note, "d" and "t" are very similar sounds, but "d" is a voiced consonant (your vocal chords vibrate when you pronounce "d"), whereas "t" is a voiceless consonant (they don't vibrate). Try it: put your hand on your throat and notice how it vibrates when you say "d", but it doesn't when you say "t". Well... when a voiced and a voiceless consonant meet, the voiced consonant "turns off", it becomes voiceless (it's called "assimilation", for the curious ones). The voiced consonant (d) turns into its voiceless version (also a t), so "rödt" sounds like "rött". In this case we actually write it as "rött" too. I don't know when exactly this happens ("dt" being written as "tt"), because I've seen words written with "dt" such as "Lindstedt" (Swedish lastname?), like in "Lindstedtsvägen" (Lindstedt's Road). If someone can explain I would be very grateful.


You might have noticed this, but a side effect is that final long vowels become short: blå, grå, grön, vit, brun and röd have a long vowel. But when we add t's they become short vowels: blått, grått, grönt, vitt, brunt and rött all have short vowels instead.
This is because the accent (previously on the vowel) is now transferred onto the double consonant.
Svart, on the other hand, already ended with a double consonant and already had a short a because of it, so nothing happens to it.

If any native Swedish speaker (or in general anyone with sufficient experience with Swedish) could confirm or correct this, I'd would be grateful.
Meanwhile, I hope that you all like this piece of information :D

[lewisbeltranfernandez]

great video, I've been studying with them. Thanks so much

[brunogonzalez]

Another great video, tack så jättemycket for your work

[simonerinaldi]

In italian "essere al verde" (being green) means to be broke.

And you can be :
Giallo d'invidia (yellow for envy)
Nero/verde di rabbia (black or green for anger);
Rosso di vergogna (red for shame)
Bianco di paura (white for scare)

[dalvaherold-pvjf]

Aula sensacional! Muitíssima obrigada.

[DroggelB]

Lingon är röda, älgen är blå
Du gillar brännvin, fyfan då är vi två
Laxеn är silver, Norrland är guld
Du är en keeper, när jag blir för full
Some lyrics always help to learn…. 😅

[Yohann_Rechter_De-Farge]

Today's memes were too funny to control laughter 🤣

[andersonsabino_]

Thanks god my native language is portuguese, which is equally as complex as swedish... We have the same patterns when it comes to singular and plural, and so on.

[iheartjungkookeva]

some phrases are just crazy how they come about ^^ in Spanish there is "me cago en la leche"- "I shit in the milk" and it means you're disappointed!

also your videos are so entertaining (I love the editing) and motivating me to learn and practice my Swedish, I also appreciate how you go over how to pronounce things as I feel like im improving at getting the sounds more accurately!

[steniowoneyramosdasilva]

Orange in plural is Oranga, as I saw it once in the lyrics of the song Sjukhus by the band Kent?

[stormmaster]

The fun thing is "rött vin, " when merged into one word may become "rödvin".

[giannislarch]

Sometimes... sounds so.. complicated 😊

[emrakel]

How can I identify en and et words
Any one can help me please 🙏

[bilexperten]

Don't mix Bruna ögon and Brun öga ;)

[Yohann_Rechter_De-Farge]

Light ones, I mean Light blue, light green etc.

[Yohann_Rechter_De-Farge]

Färg is I guess Pronounced as in Danish accent