"How are you?" and "I'm fine" are among the very first phrases you learn — and Swedish answers them with a verb English doesn't have: må. Beyond that one verb, expressing feelings in Swedish splits cleanly into three jobs: må for your overall health and well-being, känna sig + adjective for a transient feeling or mood, and the have-construction for pain — ha ont i + body part, where English makes the body part the subject ("my head hurts") and Swedish makes you the owner of the pain ("I have pain in the head"). This page covers all three.
må: overall health and well-being
The verb må (note the å) is the dedicated verb for how you are doing — your general state of health and happiness. It's what powers the standard greeting Hur mår du? ("How are you?") and its answers. Må is a short, irregular verb: present mår, past mådde.
| Swedish | English |
|---|---|
| Hur mår du? | How are you? (How are you doing/feeling?) |
| Jag mår bra, tack. | I'm fine/well, thanks. |
| Jag mår dåligt. | I feel bad / I'm unwell. |
| Jag mår inte så bra. | I'm not feeling so good. |
| Hon mår jättebra. | She's doing great. |
Note that må pairs with the adverb bra/dåligt ("well/badly"), not the adjective — you må bra, not är bra. Hur mår du? asks about well-being specifically; the more casual Hur är det? or Hur går det? ("How's it going?") ask more generally.
Hon mår inte bra idag — hon stannar hemma.
She's not feeling well today — she's staying home. må bra (well-being); inte bra = unwell.
Hur mår din mamma efter operationen?
How is your mum after the operation? må is the natural verb for asking about someone's health.
känna sig + adjective: a transient feeling
To say you feel a particular way — tired, stressed, happy, nervous — Swedish uses the reflexive verb känna sig ("feel [oneself]") + an adjective. The sig changes with the subject (mig, dig, sig, oss, er, sig), and note the ä in känna.
| Swedish | English |
|---|---|
| Jag känner mig trött. | I feel tired. |
| Du känner dig stressad. | You feel stressed. |
| Han känner sig nervös. | He feels nervous. |
| Vi känner oss glada. | We feel happy. |
Why reflexive? Because the feeling is something you sense in yourself — känna means "feel/sense," and känna sig turns that perception inward. The adjective agrees with the subject in number and gender (Vi känner oss trötta, plural -a).
Jag känner mig stressad — det är för mycket att göra just nu.
I feel stressed — there's too much to do right now. känna sig + adjective for a current mood.
Efter semestern kände vi oss utvilade och glada.
After the holiday we felt rested and happy. känna sig in the past (kände), adjective agrees: utvilade, glada (plural -a).
känna sig vs vara
Both känna sig trött and vara trött exist, and the difference is real. Vara trött ("be tired") states a condition as a fact. Känna sig trött ("feel tired") foregrounds your subjective experience of it right now — it's softer, more about the sensation. For a passing mood, känna sig is often the more precise choice; for a settled, factual state, vara is fine.
Jag är trött på mitt jobb, men idag känner jag mig faktiskt ganska pigg.
I'm fed up with my job, but today I actually feel quite energetic. 'vara trött på' = be fed up with (a state); 'känna sig pigg' = feel energetic (a current sensation).
Pain: ha ont i + body part
Here is the construction that differs most from English. To say something hurts, Swedish does not make the body part the subject. Instead, you have the pain, located in a body part: ha ont i + body part ("have pain in...").
| Swedish (literally) | English |
|---|---|
| Jag har ont i huvudet. (I have pain in the-head) | My head hurts. / I have a headache. |
| Jag har ont i ryggen. | My back hurts. |
| Hon har ont i magen. | She has a stomachache. |
| Har du ont i halsen? | Do you have a sore throat? |
Two things to notice. First, the body part takes the definite form (huvudet, "the head"), not a possessive — Swedish doesn't say mitt huvud here. Second, ont ("pain, hurt") is a fixed neuter form that doesn't change. This is the same logic as English "I have a pain in my head," but Swedish uses it as the default, everyday way to talk about any ache.
Jag har ont i huvudet — har du en huvudvärkstablett?
My head hurts — do you have a headache pill? ha ont i + huvudet (definite, not 'mitt huvud').
Hon har ont i ryggen efter att ha lyft lådorna.
Her back hurts after lifting the boxes. ha ont i ryggen; the body part owns no possessive, takes definite.
Det gör ont när jag böjer knät.
It hurts when I bend my knee. Alternative: 'göra ont' = to hurt (impersonal 'det gör ont').
States with ha and vara: hungry, thirsty, cold
A few states use vara + adjective in Swedish where some other languages use "have," and a couple use ha + noun:
| Swedish | English |
|---|---|
| Jag är hungrig / törstig. | I'm hungry / thirsty. |
| Jag är trött / pigg. | I'm tired / energetic. |
| Jag fryser. / Jag är kall. | I'm cold. (fryser = feel cold) |
| Jag har feber. | I have a fever. |
Jag är jättehungrig — ska vi äta snart?
I'm really hungry — shall we eat soon? vara hungrig, like English 'be hungry'.
Jag fryser, kan vi stänga fönstret?
I'm cold, can we close the window? frysa = feel cold (a verb), where English uses 'be cold'.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag är bra, tack. (answering 'Hur mår du?')
Misleading — 'Jag är bra' means 'I'm good (at something)'. For well-being use the adverb with må.
✅ Jag mår bra, tack.
I'm fine, thanks. må + bra.
❌ Jag känner trött.
Incorrect — 'feel + adjective' is reflexive: you need 'mig'.
✅ Jag känner mig trött.
I feel tired. känna sig + adjective.
❌ Mitt huvud gör ont.
Unidiomatic — Swedish doesn't make the body part the subject with a possessive. Use the have-frame.
✅ Jag har ont i huvudet.
My head hurts. ha ont i + definite body part.
❌ Jag har ont i mitt huvud.
Incorrect — the body part takes the definite form, not a possessive: 'huvudet', not 'mitt huvud'.
✅ Jag har ont i huvudet.
My head hurts. Definite body part after 'i'.
❌ Jag har hungrig.
Incorrect — 'hungry' is an adjective with 'vara', not 'ha': Jag är hungrig.
✅ Jag är hungrig.
I'm hungry. vara + adjective.
Key Takeaways
- må (å) is the verb for health and well-being, paired with the adverb bra/dåligt: Hur mår du? — Jag mår bra. Never Jag är bra for this.
- känna sig + adjective (reflexive, mig/dig/sig...) for a transient feeling: Jag känner mig trött/stressad. Softer and more "in-the-moment" than vara.
- Pain uses the have-frame: ha ont i
- the body part in the definite form (not a possessive): Jag har ont i huvudet/ryggen.
- A few states differ: vara hungrig/törstig (be hungry/thirsty), ha feber (have a fever), frysa (feel cold).
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Reflexive Verbs (känna sig, sätta sig)B1 — Some Swedish verbs require a reflexive object that points back at the subject: känna sig 'feel', sätta sig 'sit down', lägga sig 'lie down', skynda sig 'hurry', gifta sig 'get married', lära sig 'learn'. The reflexive (mig/dig/sig...) agrees with the subject and is grammatically obligatory even where English has no '-self' at all.
- Present Tense: Group 3 (Short Verbs)A2 — Group 3 is the small class of short verbs whose infinitive ends in a stressed vowel — bo, tro, sy, må. The present is the easiest in the language: just add -r straight onto the vowel (bor, tror, mår). This page covers the rule, the high-frequency members, and why må unlocks the everyday phrase Hur mår du?
- Body, Health, and the DoctorB1 — Body parts and medical Swedish: the irregular -on plurals (öga/ögon, öra/öron), the everyday symptom phrases (Jag är förkyld, Jag har feber/hosta), how to handle a doctor's visit (boka en tid, ett recept), and the rule English speakers keep missing — Swedish uses the DEFINITE form, not a possessive, for body parts (Jag borstar tänderna 'I brush my teeth', not 'mina tänder').
- bra vs god/gott (good/well)A2 — bra is the all-purpose 'good/well' — invariable, used for general quality and health (en bra bok, Jag mår bra, Hon sjunger bra). god/gott/goda is reserved for TASTE (god mat, smakar gott), MORALITY (en god vän), and fixed greetings (God jul!). So 'good food' is god mat (taste) but 'a good book' is en bra bok (quality). This page draws the line and clears up the classic *en god bok error.