Prepositions: Prepositions of place (SVFL)

Can you help me find my phone? I wanna show you a holiday snap from Iceland. Where has Michael put his phone? In his backpack? On his backpack?

In front of the backpack? Behind the backpack? Next to the backpack? Under the backpack? These small words belong to a class of words that explain how people, places and things relate to each other.

They are prepositions. Prepositions are most often composed of one word, although they might sometimes be composed of two. There are many prepositions but these are the most common: I, på, till, framför, åt, vid, ur, om, mot, av, för, före, genom, utan, efter, över, bakom, Under, från, bredvid, mellan, igenom. This is how it might look when they are put into sentences. Mobilen ligger under ryggsäcken.

Stolen står bredvid bordet. Lina sitter i bilen. Pappa sitter på stolen. Jag går till skolan. Hon går hem från bion.

Mikael gick mot skolan. Lina stiger ur bilen. These sentences tell what place someone or something holds in a context. But these sentences tell in what direction someone or something moves. The prepositions of place and direction belong to the same group of prepositions.

They are: Rumsprepositioner. But what happens if we swap some of these prepositions around: Mobilen ligger i ryggsäcken. Stolen står på bordet. Lina sitter bredvid bilen. Pappa sitter under stolen.

Now the sentences have different meanings. Funny how such small words can be that important. Most of the time this isn't very tricky if you know what the words mean. Look, this is from when I was in Iceland this summer. In Iceland?

Shouldn't it be on Iceland? Iceland is an island. You stand on an Island. Who is correct? Lina or Michael?

This is what you say when you speak about countries, cities, regions and lakes. Lina är i England. Lina är i London. Kim är i Dalarna Tommy badar i Mälaren. And this is what you say about islands and mountains.

Philip är på Gotland. Selma står på Mount Everest But what if the Island also is a country? Then you say På Mikael är på Island But if the country consists of several islands you say: i. I Japan. I Storbritannien.

So Lina was correct. Mikael var på Island Did it take long to go to Iceland? Kind of, we were on the plane for three and a half hours. You were on the plane? Haha, didn't you fall off then?

It's actually correct to say so. Mikael sitter på planet. Selma sitter på tåget. Tommy sitter på båten. Yes, in Swedish it is correct to say on a plane, on a train and on a boat.

But why? You say that you're in a car. Lina sitter i bilen. It's about the same thing as this: Pappa sitter på stolen. Pappa sitter i fåtöljen.

Why is it that it's called on the chair but in the armchair? Well it's because the armchair enfolds Dad. He is inside it. Here are some more examples in Swedish: Lina är i skolan. Hon är på universitetet.

Pappa är på jobbet. If you speak another language, perhaps you know of some examples that are just as tricky in your language.