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De olika årstiderna känns korta när man jobbar mycket.

De olika årstiderna känns korta när man jobbar mycket.
The different seasons feel short when you work a lot.

Breakdown of De olika årstiderna känns korta när man jobbar mycket.

jobba
to work
när
when
man
one
olika
different
kort
short
kännas
to feel
mycket
a lot
de
the
årstiden
the season
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Questions & Answers about De olika årstiderna känns korta när man jobbar mycket.

Why is it De and not Dem at the beginning?

In standard written Swedish:

  • De is the subject form (like English they).
  • Dem is the object form (like English them).

Here, De olika årstiderna is the subject of the sentence (the ones that “feel short”), so de must be used:

  • De olika årstiderna känns korta … = They (the different seasons) feel short …

If it were an object, you would use dem, for example:

  • Jag gillar dem. = I like them.

In informal speech many Swedes just say dom for both, but in writing you normally keep de/dem apart.

How do you pronounce De in this sentence?

In everyday spoken Swedish, de is usually pronounced /dom/, the same as dem.

So the whole phrase De olika årstiderna is typically pronounced something like:

  • dom olika årstiderna

In very careful or formal speech you might hear /deː/, but that’s less common in normal conversation.

What does olika mean here, and why is it before årstiderna?

Olika here means different or various. So de olika årstiderna = the different seasons.

In Swedish, adjectives that describe a noun usually go before the noun:

  • en kort bok = a short book
  • det stora huset = the big house
  • de olika årstiderna = the different seasons

So the word order is the same as in English: adjective + noun.

Why does årstiderna end in -na?

Årstiderna is the definite plural form of årstid (season).

  • Singular, indefinite: en årstid = a season
  • Singular, definite: årstiden = the season
  • Plural, indefinite: årstider = seasons
  • Plural, definite: årstiderna = the seasons

In this sentence we are talking about the different seasons in general, so Swedish uses the definite plural: årstiderna.

What exactly does känns mean, and how is it different from är?

Känns is the present tense of kännas, which means to feel or to seem (in the sense of appear, come across as).

Compare:

  • De olika årstiderna är korta.
    = The different seasons are short. (a more objective statement)
  • De olika årstiderna känns korta.
    = The different seasons feel short / seem short. (a subjective impression)

So känns suggests it’s about your experience or perception, not necessarily an absolute fact.

Why is it känns and not känner?

Swedish has two related verbs:

  • känna = to feel (actively), to sense, to know (a person)
    • Jag känner honom. = I know him.
    • Jag känner smärta. = I feel pain.
  • kännas = to feel, to seem (passive/impersonal, how something feels)
    • Det känns bra. = It feels good.
    • De olika årstiderna känns korta. = The different seasons feel short.

In this sentence, we’re describing how the seasons themselves feel to us, so we use kännas → känns, not känna → känner.

Why is the adjective korta and not kort?

In Swedish, adjectives must agree with the number (singular/plural) and definiteness of the noun they describe, even in the predicate (after the verb).

The noun phrase is de olika årstiderna:

  • plural
  • definite

For plural, the adjective gets -a:

  • en kort bok → de korta böckerna
  • en kort årstid → de korta årstiderna

So:

  • De olika årstiderna känns korta.
    (korta matches the plural noun årstiderna.)
What does man mean here, and why not du or jag?

Man is an impersonal pronoun in Swedish. It usually translates to:

  • one, you, people, or we/they in general, depending on context.

När man jobbar mycket means something like:

  • When you work a lot / When one works a lot / When people work a lot.

It doesn’t refer to a specific person; it describes a general situation.

You could say:

  • När du jobbar mycket = When you (specifically) work a lot.
  • När jag jobbar mycket = When I work a lot.

But man is more general and sounds more like a general life observation.

Why is it när man jobbar mycket and not something like om man jobbar mycket?

Both när and om can be translated “when” in English, but they’re used differently:

  • när = when (for time, something that actually happens or is expected to happen)
    • När jag kommer hem, äter jag. = When I get home, I eat.
  • om = if (for condition, something that may or may not happen)
    • Om jag kommer hem tidigt, äter jag. = If I get home early, I eat.

In this sentence, när man jobbar mycket is about a typical, real situation (people do work a lot), so när is more natural.

Om man jobbar mycket would sound more like a hypothetical if you happen to work a lot.

Why is it mycket and not många?

Mycket and många both relate to quantity, but:

  • mycket = much, a lot (used with uncountable nouns and as an adverb)
  • många = many (used with countable nouns in plural)

Here mycket is an adverb describing jobbar:

  • jobbar mycket = works a lot

Examples:

  • Hon har mycket arbete. = She has a lot of work. (work as an uncountable noun)
  • Hon har många jobb. = She has many jobs. (jobs as countable items)

So you say:

  • jobbar mycket (works a lot)
    but not
  • ✗ jobbar många

You could say:

  • jobbar många timmar = works many hours
Can I change the word order, like: När man jobbar mycket känns de olika årstiderna korta?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct:

  • De olika årstiderna känns korta när man jobbar mycket.
  • När man jobbar mycket känns de olika årstiderna korta.

Both are fine.

The difference is just what you put in focus:

  • Starting with De olika årstiderna emphasizes the seasons.
  • Starting with När man jobbar mycket emphasizes the condition (when you work a lot).

Swedish allows this kind of reordering as long as the verb is still in the second position in main clauses. In your alternative, after När man jobbar mycket (a whole clause acting as position 1), the next element is känns (the verb), which is correct.

Could you just say De olika årstiderna är korta instead? What’s the difference?

You could say that, and it’s grammatically correct:

  • De olika årstiderna är korta. = The different seasons are short.

But it sounds more objective, as if their length is simply a fact.

Using känns adds a nuance of subjective perception:

  • De olika årstiderna känns korta.
    = It feels like the seasons are short / The seasons seem short.

In a sentence about how working a lot affects your perception of time, känns fits better than är.

Is när here a question word like “when?”, or something else?

In this sentence, när is a subordinating conjunction, not a question word.

  • As a question word:

    • När kommer du? = When are you coming?

  • As a conjunction introducing a time clause:

    • Jag äter när jag är hungrig. = I eat when I’m hungry.
    • De olika årstiderna känns korta när man jobbar mycket.
      = … when you work a lot.

So here, när introduces the time clause när man jobbar mycket.

Do we really need olika? What changes if we just say De årstiderna känns korta …?

You can drop olika and say:

  • Årstiderna känns korta när man jobbar mycket.

That would still be fine and natural.

Olika adds a small nuance: it makes you think of the contrast between the seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) as distinct periods. Without it, you’re simply talking about the seasons as a general concept, without emphasizing their variety.

So:

  • De olika årstiderna = the different seasons (stressing that they’re different from each other)
  • Årstiderna = the seasons (more neutral)
How do you pronounce årstiderna, and what does the little ring over å mean?

Å is its own vowel in Swedish, not just an “a with a ring.” It’s pronounced a bit like the “o” in English “born” (British) or “more”, but with Swedish-specific quality.

Approximate pronunciation of årstiderna:

  • år – like “or” in more
  • sti – “stee”
  • der – “der” (with a soft d, like English “dair”)
  • na – “na”

Roughly: “OR-stee-der-na”.

The structure is:

  • år (year) + tid (time) → årstid (season)
  • plural: årstider
  • definite plural: årstiderna
Why is the verb jobbar in the present tense? In English I might say “when you work a lot in general”.

Swedish often uses the present tense for:

  • habitual actions
  • general truths
  • things that happen repeatedly over time

So När man jobbar mycket can mean:

  • When one is (generally) working a lot,
    not just right now at this exact moment.

This is parallel to English habitual present:

  • “When you work a lot, the seasons feel short.”

The Swedish present jobbar covers both “work” (in general) and “are working” (right now), depending on context. Here it’s clearly about a general situation.