Swedes usually don’t show when they are angry. At least not as much as people from other countries – like for example Italy, Germany or the USA. But when a certain level of anger is reached even Swedes can’t hold back and express their disliking with colorful language. Here is a list of popular Swedish swear words.
How to Learn Swedish in 10 Easy Ways
Popular Swear Words in Sweden
When you go to a Swedish pub and ask Swedes to teach you some Swedish words, I guess at least a few of the following ones will be among the first they will teach you…
- fan – devil
- helvete – hell
- jävlar – devils
- skit – shit
- as – ass
- satan – satan
- fy – ugh
A “nice” swear word you could say without feeling any guilt: sjutton – seventeen. This word is so nice and cute that you only say it if you have small children around you.
Don’t say these words in public
I’m not really sure whether I should write the more explicit Swedish swear words here. (Don’t want to offend anyone.) Yet, since these words are rather often used by Swedes – particularly when they are very, very angry – I guess I have to complete the list with them. Ok, here they are. The words for the female and male genital parts that you better never use in public or when you meet your Swedish girl- or boyfriend’s parents.
- So for the female part, the Swedish equivalent for c u n t is: f!tta (yeah, I don’t want to write it out since I don’t want Google to think this Website contains inappropriate content ;) )
- The men’s part – “c0ck” is simply “k u k” in Swedish.
I’m glad you can’t see that I’m actually blushing right now. ;)
Here are the top 3 favorite swear words and how to pronounce them
Swedish Swear Phrases
- För fan i helvete! – For the devil in hell!
- Din jävla … – You damn …
- Din jävla idiot! More freely translated: You stupid idiot!
- Jävla tyskar! – Damn Germans! That’s the one I use to hear a lot when I ask Swedes which nation builds the best cars in the world ;)
- Skit också! – Shit, too!
You can also turn a “skit” into something positive if you combine it with a positive adjective, like snygg (pretty) – so something can be skitsnygg – shit pretty.
Maybe you have heard about PewDiePie – the Swede with the most successful personal YouTube channel. He also published his list of common Swedish swear words. Here the video:
Any words you think I should add to the list? Write your comment below or on Hej Sweden’s Facebook page.
More useful information about this topic
- 10 Swedish swear words (by The Swedish Lad)
- Swedish profanity (Wikipedia)
- Typically Swedish – Top 100 Things (by me, Hej Sweden)
My late grandma came to the US from Sweden when she was 16. She said the word for shit was something like “fweet”. It apparently means something, because my bother said it to a Swedish foreign exchange student, and she laughed.
My grandma also said the Swedish term for fart was something like “en bloasten”.
Hej Scott! Never heard of “fweet”, so I checked the dictionary: without any result. Maybe she meant “skit” (pronounced almost like “sheet”), which is the word for “shit”.
“En blåste” could be translated into “One blew.” :)
But isn’t jävla something like sodding, or f**ing? Also fan, means f**k
As does not mean ass, at least not in modern Swedish. Ass would be röv. As literally means cadaver, as in the term asätare which means scavenger, thought I’m not sure if that’s also the origin of its use as derogatory term as in “ditt jävla as”.
Question:
Have any Swedish-speakers heard the phrases (sounding them out, no idea how they are spelled:) “ah-she-ah-may/day” and “swen-sah-voink” ? My great-grandmother used to use those phrases interchangeably with my dad, but we have no idea what she ment… Please and thank you!
Hey! Swede here.. Just happened to stumble upon this website and comment and thought i’d help.
“ah-she-ah-may” is probably “Uhjamäj/uschiamej” which doesnt translate to anything but is basically just a sound that means “how nasty/disagreeable/unpleasant”.
“swen-sah-voink” is a bit harder though.. hmm..
“ah-she-ah-may/day” = älskar dig = love you.
“swen-sah-voink” = svenska pojk? = swedish boy? not sure if i’m translating “voink” right tbh.
My grandmother’s family would tell her a phrase (not sure of the spelling) “sauten-prohorda-vauten”. She wasn’t told what it meant just that is was a phrase with bad words.
Thanks for sharing Jeannine! Unfortunately I have no clue what that could be in Swedish. The first part „sauten“ could be „satan“ maybe. 😬 Dear Swedish readers, help us out! :)