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Swedish Gammelsvenskby is a Swedish vernacular? spoken in Zmiyivka village, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. Today, the village has 150-200 people who share a Swedish cultural heritage. Only a few of them still speak the Swedish dialect fluently and German is often used instead.
The population of Gammalsvenskby traces its origins back to Hiiumaa (Swedish: Dagö) in present-day Estonia, once a part of the Realm of Sweden (In this part of Estonia they still speak a Swedish dialect). Under the reign of Catherine II of Russia, the Swedish-speaking population left the island in August 1781. With the promise of being granted fertile land, they were relocated to the south of Ukraine, used as colonists in territory conquered from the Ottoman Empire.
[Edit] There are many variants of standard Swedish. Some of these are considered dialects and other as separate languages.
The samples are based on field work done in the beginning of the 20th century.
boka = to bake
| Person | Present | Imperfect | Imperative |
| Sg.1 | bokar | boka | - |
| Sg.2 | boka! | ||
| Sg.3 | - | ||
| Pl.1 | boka | bokom! | |
| Pl.2 | boke! | ||
| Pl.3 | - |
bit = to bite
| Person | Present | Imperfect | Imperative |
| Sg.1 | biter | beit | - |
| Sg.2 | bit! | ||
| Sg.3 | - | ||
| Pl.1 | bit | bitom! | |
| Pl.2 | bite! | ||
| Pl.3 | - |