The Focus of this Lesson is Using Heter in Simple Present Tense
Hej, jag heter James. Vad heter du?
"Hi, I'm called James. What's your name? "

The grammar for this lesson consists mainly of the usage of the word heter (heta) in simple present tense. It thus provides a glimpse at the tense and paves the way for some more simple verbs in lesson 2.

Swedish has a number of different verb groups. We will start with the ones like heter (heta) that drop the infinitive a and add an er at the end. They are relatively simple in terms of pronunciation. Giving your name and asking for the other person's name are probably the most common things to do when meeting for the first time. Swedish is no exception here.

There are at least two ways to give your name, the more common of which Vad heter du? Jag heter... we are presenting and practicing here. The other, slightly more formal variant will be introduced in one of the next lessons, so not to worry. It will all be covered shortly.

Swedish Writing System

The Swedish alphabet is very easy to learn because it uses the same alphabet as English, except for the last three: å, ä, ö.
Knowing the basics of the Swedish alphabet is a huge step in learning Swedish because it's a "phonetic" language. That means if you know the letters, then you can read the words and people will understand you. In fact, the writing system is so exact that when you ask someone to spell a word, they usually just say it slower. We'll go over the pronunciation of each letter and the rules for spelling in our pronunciation series.

Alphabet

The Swedish alphabet consists of nine vowels and twenty consonants. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y, å, ä, and ö. This is similar to the English vowels, apart from å, ä, ö and y.
You also form words the same as in English by putting letters together in certain orders. Swedish is a Germanic-based language, so it shares many words with English and German. Cognates are similar-looking words with similar meanings. For example, "electricity" (elektricitet) and "traditional" (traditionell) are English-Swedish cognates.

Kul att träffas ("Nice to meet you")
This is not in the vocabulary list for a reason. The phrase is best learnt, for now, as it is on its own. The initial word is still considered fairly casual and spoken language rather than written. The construction that follows will be dealt with as a structure at a later stage. Here and now we will only address the phrase's pronunciation.

Tack ("Thanks")
Without a doubt, the most important word in the Swedish language. Swedes say "thanks" for everything and anywhere; it is an omnipresent piece of vocab. This point will be picked up in many a later session, but some mention of the word's importance will naturally be given here, too.

Important Introductory Swedish Words

The most common and basic greeting in Swedish is hej. It can be used in emails (even addressing unknown addressees) and sometimes letters—with certain limitations—and is used all the time in spoken Swedish. It is always usable and there is no stigma attached to it. It may freely be used even in contexts where perhaps individual Swedes would choose slightly more formal options. Swedes are by and large very casual and also like to be seen that way, especially when communicating with foreigners.

Equivalent to the phrase "nice to meet you" in English, Swedes, probably as a consequence of close contact with the English language, often use kul att träffas even when not being properly introduced. It is, so to speak, like in English an expression of exchanging niceties rather than a sincere comment.

To say good-bye in Swedish is equally simple and casual. You just use the word hejdå. There are other alternatives (hejhej etc), but we shall limit ourselves to the commonest way for now. What was said about the usability of hej is also true for hejdå. It can be used without inhibition anytime and anywhere.

Just to get an idea about slightly more formal way of greeting and saying good-bye, two other forms (god morgon and adjö) will also be introduced in brief. Upon leaving, as the English "see you," Swedes often use vi ses, to mark the ultimate end of the conversation.

Other than the immediate greeting and good-bye phrases a word of utmost importance is the word for "thanks," tack. Swedes use it even more frequently than it is being used in the English language. They use it when ordering, instead of "please." They confirm the order with it, they confirm the sum payable with it and they definitely use it again when receiving the order. Although, the word itself will only feature briefly here, its importance will be hinted at and it will feature again at least a few more times in later lessons.