Learn Hardcore Swedish: De fulla bokhyllorna gör rummet mysigt på kvällen, och taket är mörkt. - The full bookshelves make the room cozy in the evening, and the ceiling is dark.

De here is the plural definite article, meaning “the” in front of a plural noun with an adjective: de fulla bokhyllorna = “the full bookshelves”.

In most spoken Swedish, de is pronounced /dɔm/, written as dom in informal text. Standard written Swedish, however, still uses de (subject / article) and dem (object) even though both are normally pronounced dom in everyday speech.

Why is it fulla bokhyllorna and not just full bokhyllorna?

Adjectives in front of definite nouns take the -a ending in the plural:

Indefinite plural: fulla bokhyllor – “full bookshelves”
Definite plural: de fulla bokhyllorna – “the full bookshelves”

So with de + a definite plural noun (bokhyllorna), the adjective full must appear in the definite plural form fulla.

Does fulla mean “drunk” here?

Context decides. Full / fulla can mean:

full / filled up – as in fulla bokhyllor = “shelves that are full of books”, or
drunk – e.g. de är fulla = “they’re drunk”.

In this sentence, fulla bokhyllorna clearly refers to shelves full of books, not drunk bookshelves. Native speakers interpret it that way automatically from context.

How is bokhyllorna formed, and what are the other forms of this noun?

The base word is en bokhylla – “a bookcase / bookshelf”.

Its main forms are:

Singular indefinite: en bokhylla – a bookshelf
Singular definite: bokhyllan – the bookshelf
Plural indefinite: bokhyllor – bookshelves
Plural definite: bokhyllorna – the bookshelves

So bokhyllorna = bokhyllor (plural) + -na (definite plural ending, realized as -orna after this stem).

Why do we say gör rummet mysigt and not something like gör rummet mysig?

The verb göra often corresponds to English “make” in the sense of cause something to become:

göra något kallt – make something cold
göra någon glad – make someone happy
gör rummet mysigt – make the room cozy

The adjective after göra agrees with the object (rummet, an ett-word), so it must be in the neuter singular form mysigt, not the common-gender form mysig.

Why is the adjective mysigt ending in -t here?

Mysig is the base form (“cozy”). Adjectives in predicative position (after vara, bli, göra, etc.) agree with the noun’s gender and number:

ett rum → neuter, singular
Predicative adjective for neuter singular gets -t: mysigt

Compare:

Rummet är mysigt. – The room is cozy.
Stolen är mysig. – The chair is cozy. (en stol, common gender)

So gör rummet mysigt is correct because rum is neuter.

Why is it rummet and taket and not rumet and taket (or something else)?

Both rum and tak are ett-words (neuter nouns):

ett rum – a room → rummet – the room
ett tak – a ceiling / a roof → taket – the ceiling / the roof

Neuter nouns form the definite singular by adding -et (sometimes written -t after certain endings). Here they both take -et:

rum + et → rummet
tak + et → taket

Why is it taket är mörkt and not taket är mörk?

Again, this is adjective agreement in predicative position.

mörk – dark (base form)
ett tak – neuter noun
Predicative adjective for neuter singular → mörkt

So:

Väggen är mörk. – The wall is dark. (en vägg)
Taket är mörkt. – The ceiling is dark. (ett tak)

What does på kvällen literally mean, and why is på used instead of “in” like in English?

På kvällen literally is “on the evening”, but idiomatically it means “in the evening / at night (in the evenings)”.

Swedish often uses på with parts of the day:

på morgonen – in the morning
på dagen – in the daytime
på kvällen – in the evening
på natten – at night

So even though English uses “in the evening”, Swedish uses på kvällen.

What’s the difference between på kvällen, i kväll, and på kvällarna?

They all involve “evening” but differ in time reference and aspect:

på kvällen – in the evening (in general / that evening)
- Can be habitual or describing a typical situation:
  - Jag läser på kvällen. – I read in the evening(s).
i kväll – this evening / tonight (specific upcoming evening)
- Vi ses i kväll. – See you tonight.
på kvällarna – in the evenings (habitual, plural)
- De tränar på kvällarna. – They work out in the evenings (regularly).

In your sentence, på kvällen paints a typical scene: the room is cozy in the (typical) evening time.

Why is there a comma before och in ..., och taket är mörkt? Is that always required?

No, it’s not always required, but it’s acceptable and common.

Swedish comma rules are looser than English in this case. You can have:

De fulla bokhyllorna gör rummet mysigt på kvällen och taket är mörkt.
De fulla bokhyllorna gör rummet mysigt på kvällen, och taket är mörkt.

Both are fine. A comma before och is often used when it connects two main clauses and the writer wants a clearer pause:

Clause 1: De fulla bokhyllorna gör rummet mysigt på kvällen
Clause 2: taket är mörkt

So the comma here separates two independent clauses for readability, but it isn’t strictly mandatory.

How do you pronounce bokhyllorna, kvällen, and mysigt?

Approximate pronunciations (Swedish standard):

bokhyllorna → [ˈbuːkˌhʏlːʊɾna]
- bo like “boo”
- hy like German ü
  - y (rounded front vowel)
- stress on bok and secondary on hyl
kvällen → [ˈkvɛlːɛn]
- kv like “kv” in “kvetch” (k + v together)
- ä = [ɛ], like “e” in “bed”
- double l is a long consonant
mysigt → [ˈmyːsɪkt]
- y is a rounded front vowel (like French u in lune)
- final gt often sounds close to [kt]

These are approximations; the most unfamiliar sounds for English speakers are usually the Swedish y / ʏ vowels and the length contrasts (long vs short vowels/consonants).