Ultimately fromLatiner. Seeäs for further details on the vowel.
är
Inflection ofär (irregular)
|
FromMiddle High Germaniur,iuwer, fromOld High Germaniuwar, fromProto-Germanic*izweraz. Cognate withGermaneuer,Englishyour,Icelandicyðar.
The expected form would be*eier[ɑɪ̯ɐ]. Contraction must have occurred when the diphthongization of Middle High German/yː/ was at the stage[œʏ̯ ~ ɛɪ̯]. Compareiech(“you”), which seems to have been contracted at a similar time.
| nominative / accusative | dative | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singularpossessum | plural possessum | singularpossessum | plural possessum | ||||||||
| m | f | n | m | f | n | ||||||
| singular possessor | 1st person | mäin | meng | mäin | meng | mengem | menger | mengem | mengen | ||
| 2nd person | informal | däin | deng | däin | deng | dengem | denger | dengem | dengen | ||
| formal | Ären | Är | Äert | Är | Ärem | Ärer | Ärem | Ären | |||
| 3rd person | m orn | säin | seng | säin | seng | sengem | senger | sengem | sengen | ||
| f | hiren | hir | hiert | hir | hirem | hirer | hirem | hiren | |||
| plural possessor | 1st person | eisen | eis | eist | eis | eisem | eiser | eisem | eisen | ||
| 2nd person | ären | är | äert | är | ärem | ärer | ärem | ären | |||
| 3rd person | hiren | hir | hiert | hir | hirem | hirer | hirem | hiren | |||
FromOld Swedishær (third-person singular indicative present ofvara), fromOld East Norseᛁᛦ,ᛁᛋ (compareOld West Norsees, laterer), fromProto-Norseᛁᛊ(is),ᛁᛊᛏ(ist), fromProto-Germanic*isti, fromProto-Indo-European*h₁es-(“to be”).
är
The casual pronunciation is not in any way considered sloppy (as a point of reference, it's used in Ingmar Bergman scenes with highly stylized language). The spelling pronunciation can sound over-enunciated if used consistently.