Learn Hardcore Swedish: Hon blir nöjd när betyget är bättre än förra gången. - She becomes satisfied when the grade is better than last time.

Hon blir nöjd = She becomes satisfied / She gets pleased (a change of state, a reaction).
Hon är nöjd = She is satisfied (describes a state, not the process of getting there).

In this sentence, her satisfaction is a reaction when the grade is better, so Swedish naturally uses blir. English often just says “She is happy/pleased when …”, but Swedish wants to show that she goes from not satisfied → satisfied, so blir fits better.

What does nöjd mean exactly, and how is it different from “happy”?

Nöjd literally means “satisfied, content, pleased.”

It focuses on feeling that something is good enough / acceptable / pleasing, often about a result, service, food, etc.
English often translates it as “happy” in context, but nöjd isn’t as general or emotional as “happy” can be.

Examples:

Jag är nöjd med betyget. – I’m satisfied with the grade.
Är du nöjd med maten? – Are you happy with the food? / Is the food okay for you?

In this sentence, she is satisfied / pleased with the grade being better than last time.

Why is it betyget (with -et) and not just betyg?

Betyg means “grade, mark” and is an ett-word (neuter):

ett betyg – a grade
betyget – the grade

In this sentence, we are talking about a specific grade (for a specific test, assignment, or course), so Swedish uses the definite form:

när betyget är bättre = when the grade is better

Using just betyg (without -et) would sound like you mean “grades” in a general, non-specific way, which doesn’t fit well here.

Why is it när betyget är bättre and not när betyget blir bättre?

Both are possible, but they focus on slightly different things:

när betyget är bättre – when the grade is better (talks about the situation at that time; the fact that the grade is better).
när betyget blir bättre – when the grade gets/becomes better (emphasizes the change or improvement itself).

In most contexts like school tests, you compare results: the grade is better this time than last time. So är bättre feels more natural. If you were talking about something that improves over time, blir bättre might be more common.

Why do we use när here and not om? In English we say “when” or “if.”

In Swedish:

när = when (for actual time, real or repeated events)
om = if (for condition, possibility, uncertainty)

This sentence describes something that actually happens repeatedly: every time the grade is better, she becomes satisfied. That’s a regular, real situation, so Swedish uses när.

If you said Hon blir nöjd om betyget är bättre, it would sound more hypothetical: She would be satisfied if the grade were better (but maybe it isn’t).

How does bättre ... än förra gången work? Is än the same as “than” in English?

Yes.

bättre = better (comparative of bra)
än = than (used in comparisons)
förra gången = last time / the previous time

So:

bättre än förra gången = better than last time

You always use än for comparisons like:

större än – bigger than
viktigare än – more important than

What does förra gången literally mean, and why don’t we need “the”?

Förra gången is a fixed phrase:

förra = last / previous
gången = the time / the occasion (from en gång = one time, once)

So förra gången literally is “the previous time.”

Swedish already has definiteness built inside gången (the -en ending), so you don’t need an extra “the”:

förra gången ≈ the last time / last time

Why is it Hon blir nöjd and not Hon blir nöjda? Doesn’t the adjective sometimes end in -a?

Adjective endings in Swedish agree with gender and number:

en-word, singular: nöjd
ett-word, singular: nöjt
plural (any gender): nöjda

Hon is a single person (singular, common gender), so you use the en-word singular form: nöjd.

You would use nöjda only for plural subjects:

De blir nöjda. – They become satisfied.

The Swedish verb är is present tense. Could this also refer to the future, like “when the grade is better next time”?

Yes. In Swedish, the present tense is often used for future meaning when the context makes the time clear.

Hon blir nöjd när betyget är bättre än förra gången.
Can mean:
- She is (always) satisfied when the grade is better than last time. (general truth / repeated event)
- She will be satisfied when the grade is better than last time. (future, if you’re talking about an upcoming test)

You don’t need a special future form like “will be” here; present tense + context covers it.

Is the word order in när betyget är bättre än förra gången special because it’s a subordinate clause?

Yes, it’s a subordinate clause introduced by när, but here there’s no inversion because the subject naturally comes first:

när betyget är bättre
- betyget = subject
- är = verb

In many Swedish subordinate clauses, the word order is Subject – Verb – (rest), unlike main clauses which often do Verb-second. So:

Main clause: Betyget är bättre. – The grade is better.
Subordinate: när betyget är bättre – when the grade is better

The word order just stays subject before verb after när.

How do you pronounce betyget and where is the stress?

Betyget is pronounced approximately:

be-TYː-get (IPA: /bɛˈtyːɡɛt/)

Details:

be-: like “beh-”
-ty-: like French tu or German ü (front rounded vowel, long: yː)
Main stress is on the second syllable: be-TY-get
Final -et is unstressed and quite short.