Arbetstillstånd, as many foreigners living in Sweden no doubt already know, is the Swedish word for a work permit. Like many of the words we feature in this column, it’s a compound word.

The first part of the word, arbet, from arbete, means “work”, both in the sense of a job you’re paid for and in the sense of carrying out a particular unpaid task with some degree of effort, like working in the garden (trädgårdsarbete), for example.

You can use the noun jobb or verb jobba in much the same way. 

Similar words to arbete exist in many other Northern European languages, like Norwegian arbeid, Danish arbejde, Faroese arbeiði, German Arbeit and Dutch arbeid. The Swedish word arvode, which refers to a one-off fee for some sort of work often paid to freelancers instead of a salary, also comes from the same Proto-Germanic root.

The English word “work” also exists in Swedish as verk, where it can refer to a body of work (see also mästerverk, masterpiece), some sort of government authority (like the Migration Agency, Migrationsverket), or a machine or other service like a waterworks (vattenverk) or power plant (kraftverk – like the German electronic band Kraftwerk, but spelled slightly differently).

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The second half of arbetstillstånd, tillstånd, has a few different meanings. It can refer to a state or condition, like hälsotillstånd (health status), or in the phrase sakernas tillstånd (the state of things).

Tillstånd can be both a countable and uncountable noun. If you’re not sure what that means, think of the difference between “money”, which is uncountable (you can’t say “one money”), and “coin”, which is countable (two coins).

You can use the word ett tillstånd on its own, but Swedes more often just combine the word with whatever the permit is for, like an uppehållstillstånd (residence permit), serveringstillstånd (permit for serving alcohol) or a fisketillstånd (fishing permit).

Example sentences:

När kommer försörjningskravet för arbetstillstånd höjas?

When will the maintenance requirement for work permits be raised?

Har du arbetstillstånd i Sverige? Nej, jag har uppehållstillstånd som familjemedlem till någon i Sverige, men jag får arbeta ändå.

Do you have a work permit in Sweden? No, I have a residence permit as a family member of someone in Sweden, but I’m allowed to work anyway.

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.