Swedish Dates, Times and Numbers: Reading Them Right

Sweden writes numbers the continental way, with a few local twists. This page covers every format you will meet on tickets, price tags, shelf labels, door signs and forms. It notes which rules are official and which are just how shops write things.

When you need this

Your train ticket says 2/10 and you are not sure which month that is. A new friend says “vi ses halv åtta” (see you at half eight) and you need to know if that means 7:30 or 8:30. A price tag reads 49:-, a shelf label shows a second figure marked jmf-pris, or a form wants your personnummer. Someone tells you the lake is “bara två mil” away. Each of these has a fixed Swedish rule, and they are all below.

Dates: year first, or day first

Sweden uses two numeric date styles. In both of them the month sits in the middle.

The year-first form is the ISO 8601 standard, which SIS (the Swedish Institute for Standards) publishes as SS-ISO 8601. Isof, the state language authority, recommends it for documents and letterheads rather than running text. Short dates with a slash or points put the day first, so 5/6 is 5 June, never 6 May. Isof also advises never shortening the year, because a date like 22-11-10 can be read three ways.

Weekdays are abbreviated by cutting before dag: mån., tis., ons., tors., fre., lör., sön. Sweden also numbers its weeks, which gets its own guide: Swedish week numbers.

Warning: Reading 5/6 month-first books a train, ferry or tour for the wrong month. If a date has a four-digit number first, it is year-month-day. If the year comes last, the day comes first.

Times: 24-hour on paper, halv in speech

Written times use the 24-hour clock with figures. Night hours get a leading zero, as in kl. 01–06. The Swedish separator is a period, kl. 20.30, and the colon, 20:30, is equally acceptable. Kl. is short for klockan (“o’clock”). A “20.30” on a timetable is a time, not a price or a decimal.

In speech, Swedes use the 12-hour clock and let context say morning or evening. The half hour is where English speakers get caught: halv names the coming hour, so halv tre (“half three”) is 2:30.

German and Dutch speakers already know this rule from halb drei and half drie. English speakers are the ones who arrive an hour late, because British “half three” is 3:30.

Numbers: the comma is the decimal point

Sweden writes 10,85, read tio komma åttiofem, where English writes 10.85. Large numbers are split into groups of three with a space: 1 987 234. So “1,5 kg” is one and a half kilos, never fifteen hundred.

There is one wrinkle. Where no fixed space is available, Isof allows points as the thousands separator (1.987.234). A point between digits is therefore not always a decimal. Money is abbreviated kr. Reports use tkr (thousand kronor), mnkr (million kronor) and mdkr (billion, meaning a thousand million).

Prices: kr, :- and the jämförpris

The colon is official too. The Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket) writes “16:40 kr” in its own worked examples. ”:-” stands for zero öre. It is shop and sign notation, not something the language authority prescribes.

Cash and card totals can differ. Sweden’s last öre coin went out of use in 2010, but öre survive as a unit of account. Cards are charged to the öre. Cash totals are rounded to the nearest krona: 1–49 öre rounds down, 50 öre and above rounds up, and only the total is rounded. For cards versus cash in general, see money in Sweden.

The jämförpris (often jmf-pris) is a legal requirement on shelf labels. It is the price per kilo, litre, metre, square metre, piece (kr/st) or use (kr/tvätt, per wash), and other units are not allowed. It is how you compare brands and pack sizes; a bigger pack is not always cheaper per kilo. Packs of 50 g or 50 ml or less are exempt, as are mixed packs like ready meals. Loose sweets and deli counters price per hg, but the comparison price on the label is still per kilo. More in Swedish food labels and grocery prices in Sweden.

A taxi’s jämförpris is something else entirely: the price of a standard 10 km, 15-minute trip. See taxis in Sweden.

Opening hours on shop doors

Door signs use the 24-hour clock without minutes, so 10–19 means 10:00 to 19:00. They usually run weekdays (vardagar or mån–fre), then Saturday (lör), then Sunday (sön). Stängt means closed. Some signs compress this into one line, 10–19 (10–17) (12–16), with the weekend hours in brackets in the same order. When in doubt, check the store’s own web page. Around public holidays, signs often add lines for eves (afton) and holidays. See opening hours in Sweden and Swedish public holidays.

Personnummer, postcodes and phone numbers

Personnummer. Sweden’s personal identity number is the birth date (YYMMDD), a hyphen and four digits, such as 640823-XXXX. Those four digits are a three-digit birth number and a check digit. The second-to-last digit is odd for men and even for women. The hyphen turns into a plus sign in the year the holder turns 100. Forms often want twelve digits with the full year, and the date is not always the real birthday: when numbers run out for a date, Skatteverket assigns a nearby one. People who are not registered residents may get a samordningsnummer (coordination number) instead, which adds 60 to the day of birth. From 1 December 2026, new laws add biometric identity checks, both when people register as residents and for coordination numbers, but change neither format. As a visitor you have no personnummer. Look for a foreign-visitor option or a date-of-birth field, or ask staff. See carrying ID in Sweden.

Postcodes are five digits split 3 + 2, written before the town: 441 96 Alingsås. On mail from abroad, add SE- in front.

Phone numbers are grouped in twos and threes, with a hyphen after the area code: 08-575 686 43. To call from abroad, drop the leading 0 and add +46, so +46 8 575 686 43. Mobile numbers start with 07. More in phone numbers in Sweden.

Distances: a mil is 10 km

A Swedish mil is exactly 10 kilometres, set when Sweden went metric (decided in 1876, in force from 1889). Road signs show kilometres, but people talk in mil. “Bara tre mil” (“only three mil”) is 30 km, and en halvmil is 5 km. Fuel use is commonly quoted in litres per mil, so 0,6 l/mil is 6 litres per 100 km. Even the tax agency sets mileage allowances per mil.

Warning: Used-car ads often give the odometer in mil, so 12 000 mil is 120,000 km. And a drive of “five mil” is 50 km, not five miles. Budget fuel and daylight on the kilometre figure. More for drivers in driving in Sweden.

Mistakes to avoid

• Reading 2026-03-04 as 3 April. It is 4 March.
• Hearing “half eight” for halv åtta. It is 7:30.
• Reading “1,500” as fifteen hundred. It is one and a half.
• Comparing pack prices instead of the jämförpris.
• Expecting cash to match the card total. Cash is rounded to the nearest krona.
• Converting mil as miles. One mil is about 6.2 miles.
• Writing your birth date US-style on a Swedish form. Use 2026-10-02 or 2 oktober 2026.

Practical information

We deliberately publish no prices here. Skatteverket’s per-mil allowance changes yearly, and loose-sweet prices vary by store and even by weekday.

FAQ

What does 2/10 mean in Sweden?

It means 2 October. When Swedes write a date with a slash or points, the day comes first and the month second, so 2/10 and 2.10.2026 are both 2 October, and 5/6 is 5 June. The all-numeric standard form puts the year first instead: 2026-10-02. In every Swedish format the month sits in the middle; the American month-first order is not used.

What time is “halv tre” in Swedish?

Halv tre is 2:30, not 3:30. Swedish names the hour you are heading towards, so “half three” means halfway to three. Kvart över tre is 3:15 and kvart i tre is 2:45. German and Dutch work the same way, but English speakers often arrive an hour late. In writing, times use the 24-hour clock, such as 14.30.

What does “29:-” mean on a Swedish price tag?

It means 29 kronor exactly. The colon separates kronor from öre and the dash stands for zero öre, so 29:- is the same as 29,00 kr. Prices with öre are written 29,90 kr or 29:90. Cards are charged to the öre, but cash totals are rounded to the nearest whole krona, because Sweden has had no öre coins since 2010.

How long is a Swedish mil?

One Swedish mil is exactly 10 kilometres, about 6.2 English miles. Road signs show kilometres, but Swedes give distances in mil when they talk, used-car ads often state mileage in mil, and fuel use is commonly quoted in litres per mil, though new-car marketing uses litres per 100 km. “Tre mil” is 30 km, and 0,6 litres per mil means 6 litres per 100 km.

Why do Swedes write 1,5 instead of 1.5?

Sweden uses a decimal comma, like most of continental Europe, so 1,5 kg is one and a half kilos. Large numbers are grouped in threes with a space: 1 250 000. Where a fixed space is not available, points may be used as the thousands separator, so 1.500 can mean fifteen hundred. Read the comma as the decimal point and you will rarely go wrong.

What is jmf-pris on Swedish price labels?

Jmf-pris is short for jämförpris, the comparison price. Swedish law requires shelf labels to show it per kilo, litre, metre, piece or use, so you can compare brands and pack sizes. A large pack is not always cheaper per kilo. Packs of 50 grams or 50 millilitres or less are exempt. On a taxi, jämförpris means something else: the price of a standard trip.

What does a Swedish personnummer look like?

It is the holder’s birth date as year, month and day, a hyphen and four digits, for example 640823-XXXX. Forms often ask for twelve digits, with the full year. The second-to-last digit is odd for men and even for women, and the hyphen becomes a plus sign at age 100. Visitors do not have one; look for a foreign-visitor option instead.

How do I read Swedish opening hours like 10–19 (10–17)?

Hours are written on the 24-hour clock, so 10–19 means 10:00 to 19:00. Signs usually list weekdays first, then Saturday, then Sunday, with abbreviations such as mån–fre, lör and sön. A compressed sign may put the weekend hours in brackets in the same order. Stängt means closed. Holiday eves and public holidays often get their own line.

Related guides

• Swedish week numbers — the other numbering system on every Swedish calendar
• Swedish food labels — date marks on packs and the jämförpris in context
• Opening hours in Sweden — what those door signs mean on Sundays and holidays
• Money in Sweden — kronor, cards, and where cash must still be accepted
• Phone numbers in Sweden — +46, 020 numbers and the ones to avoid

Facts verified 2026-10-01. Sources: Isof (Institute for Language and Folklore), SIS, Konsumentverket, Riksbanken, Skatteverket and the Swedish statute on coordination numbers — full register in this topic’s source file. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.