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Learn Hardcore Swedish: Mottagningen är dålig hemma. - The reception is poor at home.

Hardcore Swedish
/Comparing mobile phone plans
/Mottagningen är dålig hemma.

Mottagningen är dålig hemma.

Word

Mottagningen är dålig hemma.

Meaning

The reception is poor at home.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Swedish

Lesson

Comparing mobile phone plans

Breakdown of Mottagningen är dålig hemma.

the reception (signal)

Questions & Answers about Mottagningen är dålig hemma.

Why is it mottagningen and not mottagning?

Mottagningen is the definite form: the reception.

In Swedish, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun as a suffix:

en mottagning = a reception
mottagningen = the reception

So instead of having a separate word like English the, Swedish often builds it into the noun.

What does mottagningen mean here? I thought it could mean the clinic or the reception desk.

Yes — mottagning can mean several things depending on context, including:

reception / signal reception
clinic
reception desk / front desk

In this sentence, because of dålig hemma (bad at home), it most naturally means signal reception — for example phone, radio, or TV reception.

So here mottagningen is understood as the reception/signal.

Why is the adjective dålig and not dåligt?

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Because mottagningen is a common gender noun (en word).

Swedish adjectives used after är agree with the noun:

common gender singular: dålig
neuter singular: dåligt
plural: dåliga

So:

mottagningen är dålig
but vädret är dåligt because vädret is a neuter noun

Even though mottagningen is definite, the adjective after är still stays dålig, not dåliga. That is because this is a predicative adjective (after a linking verb), not an adjective directly before the noun.

Why is there no separate word for the before mottagningen?

Because Swedish usually marks definiteness by adding it to the noun itself.

English:

the reception

Swedish:

mottagningen

This is very normal in Swedish. A separate definite word is mainly used in other patterns, especially when there is an adjective before the noun, for example:

den dåliga mottagningen = the bad reception

But in your sentence, the adjective comes after the verb, so only mottagningen is needed.

Why is är used here?

Är is the present tense of vara, which means to be.

So:

är = is / are

In this sentence:

Mottagningen är dålig hemma = The reception is bad at home

It links the subject (mottagningen) with the description (dålig).

Why does it say hemma instead of hem?

Because hemma means at home — it describes a location.

Compare:

hemma = at home (location)
hem = home / to homeward destination in some uses

So:

Jag är hemma = I am at home
Jag går hem = I am going home

In your sentence, the meaning is location, so hemma is the correct choice.

Is the word order normal? Could hemma go earlier in the sentence?

Yes, the word order is normal.

The sentence structure is:

Mottagningen = subject
är = verb
dålig = adjective/complement
hemma = place adverbial

So this is a straightforward, neutral sentence.

You can move hemma for emphasis, for example:

Hemma är mottagningen dålig.

That puts more focus on at home. But the original version is perfectly natural.

Could you also say Det är dålig mottagning hemma?

Yes — and in many everyday situations, that version may sound even more natural.

Det är dålig mottagning hemma = There is bad reception at home
Mottagningen är dålig hemma = The reception is bad at home

The difference is mostly about how specific you are:

det är dålig mottagning presents the situation more generally
mottagningen är dålig talks about the reception as a known thing

Both are grammatical.

Does dålig just mean bad, or can it mean something more specific here?

Here dålig means something like:

bad
poor
weak

With signal reception, English often says poor reception or weak reception, and Swedish uses dålig mottagning in the same way.

So it does not mean morally bad. It means the quality of the reception is poor.

How would this sentence be pronounced?

A rough pronunciation guide is:

Mottagningen är dålig hemma
MO-taag-ning-en air DOH-lig HEM-ma

A few notes:

å sounds somewhat like the vowel in British law
ä in är is like the vowel in air for many learners
gning in mottagningen can be tricky; listen carefully to native audio if you can
stress is mainly on mottagningen, dålig, and hemma

If you want, I can also break the whole sentence down syllable by syllable in a more detailed learner-friendly way.

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