"A fork"

Translation: En gaffel

[Firestar6705]

What is the differance between "Ett" and "En"? Ex: Ett äpelsin or En äpelsin?

[SuperNova1353]

All Swedish words are divided into two groups: en-words (or utrum) and ett-words (or neutrum). Unfortunately, you cannot know to which group a certain word belongs but there are some tips to have a greater chance of guessing right.

Most words are en-words
Most words designating a person are en-words ¹
Have a look at the ending, many endings take the same article (e.g. –a² , –ing and –het are always en-words)
¹ One common exception is ett barn a child
² The only exceptions are ett öga, ett öra and ett hjärta.

[mariocwcnow]

Nouns fall under two groups: the common gender, en, and the neuter gender, ett. En words are usually living, en människa(a man), en kvinna. Ett words are usually objects, ett hus(a house)

[ChethanTN]

Quite confused:
Then what about ett barn??

[Arnauti]

You missed the word 'usually'. There are quite a few exceptions, but it's still generally true that living things are usually common gender.

[s_smart]

A child as the phrase itself implies no gender on the person compared to en pojke or en flicka. Below is a nice blog post helping to clear it up a bit for me.

http://swedishpress.com/content/en-or-ett-first-lesson-about-swedish-nouns

[RodolfoJonasson]

In portuguese: garfo

[Lundgren8]

However unrelated. :)

[WraythRose]

is there a germanic or old english similar word? because it seems really familiar :/

(like gavel that a judge uses?)

[Lundgren8]

It’s borrowed from Low German. You can find its cognates here: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Proto-Germanic/gabal%C5%8D

[WraythRose]

thanks :)
(I do know german too, I just hadn't connected the two, I guess I was sure I'd heard something similar in english somewhere! XD )

[ThoopidThathe]

Lol it let me put in as a option "En Kock" idk what kock means in spanish but i certently do in english xD

[devalanteriel]

kock is the Swedish word (not Spanish...) for "cook" or "chef".