Write Natural Swedish

Write Natural Swedish

Improve Swedish writing so it reads like confident, idiomatic Sweden Swedish rather than translated English or generic machine prose.

Arguments

• text: Swedish or source-language text to polish, translate, rewrite, or review.
• audience: Reader group, for example customers, developers, internal product team, public-sector readers, executives, or language learners.
• mode: polish, rewrite, translate, explain, or check.
• preset: contemporary, tech-company, developer-docs, product-marketing, startup-internal, klarsprak, or learner-friendly.
• register: informal, neutral, professional, formal, academic, product, support, or public-sector.

When to Use

Load this skill when the user asks for Swedish-language writing quality, Swedish translation, Swedish grammar, Swedish tone, Swedish tech-company copy, Swedish developer documentation, contemporary Swedish vocabulary, klarsprak, or help avoiding English-shaped Swedish.

Do NOT load this skill when the task is only about English writing, code implementation, non-Swedish localization, or language facts that do not require producing or judging Swedish prose.

Workflow

1. Establish audience, purpose, medium, register, and preset from the prompt. If missing and the stakes are high, ask one concise question; otherwise assume standard Sweden Swedish and neutral professional tone. 2. Preserve meaning and factual claims. Improve phrasing without adding commitments, legal precision, politeness, sales intensity, or certainty the source did not contain. 3. Rewrite for Swedish structure: V2 word order, subordinate-clause word order, information flow, active verbs, definiteness, compounds, idiomatic particles/prepositions, and rhythm. 4. Apply the selected preset. If no preset is named, infer the lightest useful one from the text. 5. Verify uncertainty with references/resource-map.md when exact spelling, inflection, specialist terminology, current usage, or source attribution matters. 6. Return the polished Swedish first. Add brief notes only when the user asks, when teaching is useful, or when a non-obvious register or terminology choice matters. 7. If the user provides concrete text, perform the requested revision directly; do not respond with only an acknowledgement.

Presets

Contemporary

Use current, idiomatic Sweden Swedish without forcing trend words. Prefer established modern words. Use new terms only when they genuinely fit the audience and context.

Tech Company

Write like a credible Swedish technology company: clear, product-aware, concrete, modest, and useful. Avoid Silicon Valley hype, literal English phrasing, and stiff bureaucratic Swedish.

Developer Docs

Optimize for developers and technical practitioners: direct address, active voice, short steps, consistent terminology, exact code/UI terms, and no unnecessary charm.

Product Marketing

Keep claims specific and credible. Translate value propositions into Swedish benefit language instead of slogan-shaped English.

Startup Internal

Allow a warmer, faster team tone while keeping Swedish grammar, compounds, and prepositions clean.

Klarsprak

Use clear public-facing Swedish: reader-oriented structure, everyday words, explained terms, short sentences where possible, and direct responsibility.

Learner-Friendly

Use natural Swedish but keep sentence structure and vocabulary accessible. Add 2-5 concise notes when the user is learning.

Load References

• Read references/natural-swedish-style.md for the revision checklist and style principles.
• Read references/presets-tech-company-swedish.md for contemporary wording, tech-company Swedish, product copy, developer docs, startup tone, SaaS/cloud/AI/security/FinOps language, or modern vocabulary.
• Read references/resource-map.md for source lookup order, current caveats, and resource links.
• Read references/revision-patterns.md for recurring English-to-Swedish and learner-Swedish revision patterns.

Load only the files needed for the task.

NEVER

• Never translate sentence by sentence when the result should read as native Swedish.
• Never preserve English word order, noun stacks, or business idioms just because they are present in the source.
• Never use contemporary terms as decoration. Modern Swedish should still be precise and context-fit.
• Never replace established technical product names, CLI flags, code identifiers, API paths, or UI labels with Swedish translations.
• Never over-polish workplace Swedish into stiff myndighetssvenska unless the user asks for that register.
• Never pretend one formulation is the only correct one when Swedish usage allows variation.

Output Standards

• Prefer concise, idiomatic Swedish over literal transfer from English.
• Prefer clear, concrete phrasing; use klarsprak for public, workplace, policy, support, and product text unless the user asks for a more literary voice.
• Use standard Sweden Swedish by default. Switch to Finland Swedish, dialectal, youth, highly formal, or strongly colloquial prose only on request.
• Keep explanations short. For learner support, include 2-5 high-impact notes rather than a full grammar lecture.
• If an input error changes meaning, ask or state both possible interpretations.

Natural Swedish Style

Use this as a working checklist, not as a grammar textbook. The goal is Swedish that a careful native reader would find clear, idiomatic, and suited to the situation.

Revision Pass

1. Meaning and audience

• Identify who is speaking, who is reading, and what should happen after reading.
• Preserve facts, commitments, deadlines, and uncertainty markers.
• Choose one register and keep it stable.

2. Sentence architecture

• Main clauses normally use V2 word order: one sentence element before the finite verb.
• Subordinate clauses place sentence adverbs such as inte, alltid, and kanske before the finite verb: att vi inte har, not att vi har inte.
• Avoid long English-style noun chains. Prefer finite verbs, clauses, or Swedish compounds where they are natural.

3. Information flow

• Put known context early and new or important information late.
• Break overloaded sentences before stacking several att, som, or prepositional phrases.
• Swedish often reads better with a concrete verb than with an abstract noun.

4. Definiteness, compounds, and forms

• Check definite and indefinite forms: en ny funktion, funktionen, den nya funktionen.
• Join true compounds: kostnadsanalys, kunddata, språkstöd. Split or rephrase only when the compound becomes heavy or ambiguous.
• Prefer de/dem in formal writing. Use dom only when the requested voice is deliberately informal.

5. Verbs, particles, and prepositions

• Check verb particles and prepositions by usage, not English analogy: se till att, dra nytta av, bidra till, ha stöd för.
• Avoid overusing kommer att; Swedish often uses present tense, ska, kommer att, or a time expression depending on certainty and intent.
• Prefer active constructions unless passive voice is natural for the genre or keeps attention on the process/result.

6. Vocabulary and idiom

• Avoid direct Anglicisms when a plain Swedish verb works: använda, stödja, förbättra, säkerställa, utreda.
• Do not over-polish everyday Swedish into stiff bureaucratic prose.
• Use corpus or dictionary checks for collocations that feel plausible but uncertain.

7. Tone

• Swedish professional tone is often direct, calm, and lightly understated.
• Vänligen can sound stiff or irritated if overused; prefer a clear request when appropriate.
• For product and support text, prefer du and concrete action verbs.
• For public-sector or policy text, prefer klarspråk: clear structure, everyday words, explained terms, and reader-oriented headings.

8. Punctuation and typography

• Swedish usually lowercases weekdays, months, languages, nationalities, and many title-like phrases unless they begin a sentence or are proper names.
• Use commas for clarity, not as a mechanical copy of English punctuation.
• Prefer Swedish quotation marks when producing polished final copy: ”...”.
• Check colon, hyphen, and abbreviation conventions when the text is formal or publishable.

9. Rhythm

• Read the revised text silently as if spoken. Remove repeated scaffolding words and unnecessary filler.
• Vary sentence length, but keep important instructions short.
• Replace repeated starts such as Det är viktigt att... with a more direct subject and verb.

Quality Gate

• Does it say the same thing as the source?
• Is the register coherent for the reader and medium?
• Are word order, definiteness, compounds, and prepositions idiomatic?
• Are any English source structures still visible?
• Would a native reader understand the point on the first pass?
• Did you avoid adding claims, promises, or intensity?

Presets for Contemporary and Tech-Company Swedish

Use these presets when the user asks for modern Swedish, technology-company writing, developer-facing text, product copy, or workplace communication in a tech context.

Contemporary

Goal: sound current without sounding forced.

• Prefer words that are already normal in Swedish usage: app, mejl, sajt, webbplats, chattbott, AI, molntjänst, plattform, integration, data, funktion.
• Use new words only when they genuinely name the thing. AI-agent, digital suveränitet, and vibbkodning can be right in current tech contexts; they should not be sprinkled into ordinary copy for freshness.
• Keep English terms when they are product names, protocol/API names, command names, UI strings, or the established term in the target company.
• Translate concepts, not vibes. vibe coding may become vibbkodning in trend/reporting contexts, but AI-stödd programmering or programmering med AI may be clearer in enterprise or customer copy.
• Avoid faux-modern filler: superladda, disrupta, gamechanger, next-gen, sömlös as a reflex, and English adjective order copied into Swedish.

Tech Company

Goal: sound like a credible Swedish tech company.

• Be concrete before enthusiastic: say what the product does, who it helps, and what changes for the user.
• Use calm confidence. Swedish business tech copy often works better with evidence and clarity than with big claims.
• Prefer du for product UI, support, documentation, and most SaaS copy. Use ni only for the customer organization when the text clearly addresses a company as a group.
• Prefer verbs over abstractions: automatisera, skydda, samla, analysera, prioritera, publicera, felsöka, integrera.
• Keep English product and engineering terms when Swedish alternatives sound unnatural to the audience, but explain them when writing for mixed technical/business readers.
• Use Swedish compounds carefully: molnkostnader, säkerhetsgranskning, driftstatus, kunddata, produktteam, lanseringskandidat, API-integration.
• Avoid literal English business phrasing: driva värde, på skala, ta action, låsa upp potential, flytta nålen.

Developer Docs

Goal: make Swedish technical instructions easy to follow.

• Use direct instructions: Skapa en ny nyckel, Kör kommandot, Lägg till variabeln.
• Put conditions before actions: Om bygget misslyckas, kör...
• Keep code, CLI flags, env vars, HTTP methods, endpoint paths, UI labels, and product names unchanged.
• Use consistent terms across the page. Do not alternate between driftsätta, deploya, and publicera unless the distinction matters.
• Prefer present tense and active voice: API:t returnerar..., Tjänsten skapar...
• Avoid unnecessary politeness in steps. Use Klicka på Spara, not Vänligen klicka på Spara.
• Explain acronyms on first use for mixed audiences: rollbaserad åtkomstkontroll (RBAC).

Product Marketing

Goal: Swedish product copy that is persuasive without sounding imported.

• Lead with the user outcome, then the mechanism.
• Make claims testable: minskar manuell handpåläggning, samlar kostnadsdata, visar avvikelser i realtid.
• Prefer Swedish benefit verbs over English launch language: kom igång, få överblick, upptäck risker, prioritera åtgärder.
• Use smart, enkel, snabb, and säker only when the surrounding sentence proves the claim.
• Avoid exclamation marks, inflated adjectives, and generic framtidens... unless the requested tone is explicitly campaign-like.

Startup Internal

Goal: natural workplace Swedish inside a product/engineering team.

• Keep it direct and warm: Kan du skicka testresultaten i dag?
• Use a little shared tech vocabulary if the team would: release, PR, deploy, rollback, feature flag.
• Keep Swedish grammar around English terms: deployen, PR:en, feature flaggen only in informal team contexts; use clearer rephrasing in external copy.
• Prefer risker som återstår, blockerar lanseringen, behöver verifieras, nästa steg over literal English project phrasing.

Term Choice Heuristics

Swedish Reference Map

Use references selectively. Do not turn ordinary editing into research unless accuracy, source attribution, or uncertainty requires it.

Lookup Order

1. Svenska Akademiens dictionaries via svenska.se

• Use for spelling, inflection, meaning, usage examples, and older language.
• SAOL is the spelling/inflection norm; SO is best for modern meaning and usage; SAOB is historical.
• If an exact edition matters, verify live because SAOL 15 appeared in 2026.
• Link: https://svenska.se/

2. Språkrådet / Isof

• Use for Swedish writing rules, public Swedish, klarspråk, capitalization, punctuation, recommendations, and debated usage.
• Start with Frågelådan for specific questions and Klarspråkshjälpen for plain-language revision.
• Links:
• https://frageladan.isof.se/
• https://www.isof.se/svenska-spraket/klarsprak/klarsprakshjalpen
• https://www.isof.se/svenska-spraket/klarsprak/lar-dig-mer-om-klarsprak/vad-ar-klarsprak

3. Språkbanken Text

• Use Korp to compare real usage, collocations, genre, and register across large Swedish corpora.
• Use Karp for lexical-resource lookup when dictionary-level data or word-list evidence matters.
• Check concordance examples, not just counts; genre and time period can change the answer.
• Links:
• https://spraakbanken.gu.se/korp/
• https://spraakbanken.gu.se/en/tools/korp
• https://spraakbanken.gu.se/en/tools/karp

4. Tyda

• Use as a quick bilingual dictionary and synonym finder.
• Treat it as candidate generation, not final authority for idiom or register; verify important choices in Svenska.se, Isof, or Korp.
• Link: https://tyda.se/

5. Contemporary and technical Swedish

• Use Isof Nyordslistan to spot contemporary words and emerging tech terms, but treat it as usage evidence rather than a mandate to use the word.
• Use Rikstermbanken for specialist terminology and definitions that general dictionaries do not cover.
• Use Svenska datatermgruppen recommendations, now surfaced through Isof/Rikstermbanken, when IT terms need Swedish spelling, compounds, or equivalents.
• Use TT-språket as a pragmatic public-writing reference for IT and social-media spellings.
• Links:
• https://www.isof.se/svenska-spraket/nyord/nyordslistan-2025
• https://www.isof.se/svenska-spraket/facksprak-och-terminologi/rikstermbanken
• https://www.isof.se/svenska-spraket/facksprak-och-terminologi/termgrupper-och-organisationer/svenska-datatermgruppen
• https://tt-spraket.tt.se/it-termer-sociala-medier/

6. Tech-company documentation style

• For developer documentation and product docs, adapt the broad tech-writing pattern: conversational but not slangy, direct, active, consistent, accessible, and global-audience friendly.
• Use these as documentation-style influences, not Swedish-language authorities.
• Links:
• https://developers.google.com/style
• https://developers.google.com/style/tone

7. Rivstart

• Use as a learner-progression reference for Swedish as a foreign language, especially A1-C1 level calibration and communicative practice.
• Do not quote textbook content unless the user provides the excerpt or asks to work with their material.
• Link: https://www.nok.se/laromedel/serier/Rivstart/

8. Radio Sweden på lätt svenska

• Use for contemporary clear Swedish with short news texts and audio, especially when the user asks for lätt svenska or learner-friendly style.
• Link: https://www.sverigesradio.se/radio-sweden-pa-latt-svenska

9. SVT Språkplay / Språkkraft caveat

• SVT Språkplay was useful historically for interactive subtitles but SVT says the app has been discontinued; use SVT Play for programs and Språkkraft tools for language-learning media support.
• Links:
• https://www.svt.se/kontakt/svt-sprakplay
• https://sprakplay.svt.se/

10. Grammar references

• Use Swedish: An Essential Grammar for compact structure checks and Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar for deeper grammar decisions.
• Do not reproduce copyrighted explanations; use them as references when available.

Decision Table

Revision Patterns

Use these patterns as prompts for judgment. They are not replacements for context.

English Source Shape to Swedish Shape

Word Order

• Main clause: I dag lanserar vi funktionen.
• Not natural: I dag vi lanserar funktionen.
• Subordinate clause: ... eftersom vi inte har fått svar.
• Not natural: ... eftersom vi har inte fått svar.

Definiteness

• en ny funktion = a new feature
• funktionen = the feature
• den nya funktionen = the new feature
• vår nya funktion = our new feature

If English says the new feature, do not automatically use den nya funktionen; choose based on whether the feature is already known in the Swedish context.

Compounds

Prefer true compounds when they are normal:

• kostnadsanalys
• språkstöd
• kunddata
• migreringsplan

Rephrase heavy compounds:

• Heavy: kunddatamigreringsriskanalys
• Better: analys av risker i kunddatamigreringen

Professional Email Defaults

• Greeting: Hej Anna, or Hej,
• Neutral close: Vänliga hälsningar
• Warmer close: Hälsningar
• Very formal close: Med vänliga hälsningar

Avoid adding elaborate politeness unless the relationship or medium calls for it.

Common Polish Moves

• Replace repeated det finns with a concrete subject when possible.
• Replace göra en analys av with analysera unless the noun phrase is needed.
• Replace ha en påverkan på with påverka when the meaning is simple.
• Replace vague saker with a concrete noun, or keep saker if the voice is deliberately casual.
• Keep one strong verb instead of adding adverbs that compensate for weak phrasing.