Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen.

The children go to bed late on the weekend.

Breakdown of Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen.

• helgen: the weekend
• på: on
• barnet: the child
• sent: late
• lägga sig: to go to bed

Questions & Answers about Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen.

Why is it barnen and not just barn if the English translation is “the children”?

In Swedish, -en at the end of a noun often marks the definite form (“the …”).

• barn = child / children (indefinite)
• barnet = the child (definite singular)
• barnen = the children (definite plural)

So barnen literally means “the children.”
If you only said Barn lägger sig sent på helgen, it would sound odd or incomplete, a bit like saying “Children go to bed late at the weekend” without specifying which children. In normal speech, if you mean some specific, known children (for example, in your family), you’d use barnen.

Why do we say lägger sig and not just lägger?

Lägga sig is a reflexive verb in Swedish. Many actions that someone does to themselves use a reflexive pronoun.

• lägga = to lay / to put (something somewhere)
  
  • Jag lägger boken på bordet. = I put the book on the table.
• lägga sig = to lie down / to go to bed (lay oneself down)
  
  • Jag lägger mig. = I’m going to bed / I lie down.

The reflexive pronoun sig shows that the subject is acting on itself:

• Jag lägger mig. (I lay myself down.)
• Du lägger dig. (You lay yourself down.)
• Han/hon/den/det/man lägger sig.
• Vi lägger oss.
• Ni lägger er.
• De lägger sig.

In the sentence Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen, the children are putting themselves to bed, so you need lägger sig, not just lägger.

What is the exact meaning of lägga vs ligga? They look similar.

They are related but different:

• lägga (lägger) = to lay / to put (something in a lying position) or to lie down (when reflexive: lägga sig).

  • Jag lägger boken på bordet. = I put the book on the table.
  • Jag ska lägga mig. = I’m going to bed.

• ligga (ligger) = to lie (already be lying somewhere).

  • Boken ligger på bordet. = The book is lying on the table.
  • Jag ligger i sängen. = I’m lying in bed.

So lägga sig is about the action of going into a lying position, while ligga is about being in that position.

Why is the present tense lägger used instead of something like “usually lay” or “will lay”?

Swedish uses the simple present tense very often for:

• Habits / routines
  
  • Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen.
    = The children go to bed late at the weekend. (habitually)
• General truths
  
  • Solen går upp i öster. = The sun rises in the east.

There’s no special “habitual” form. Context plus an adverbial like på helgen (“on weekends”) shows that it’s a regular habit.

So Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen most naturally means:
“The children (usually) go to bed late on weekends.”

What does på helgen mean exactly? Does it mean “this weekend” or “on weekends in general”?

På helgen (singular) usually means “on the weekend / at weekends” in general, as a regular pattern, not a single specific weekend.

• Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen.
  = The children go to bed late on weekends (as a rule).

Compare:

• i helgen = “this weekend / last weekend” (a specific weekend, depending on context and verb tense)
  • I helgen lade barnen sig sent. = This/last weekend, the children went to bed late.
• på helgerna (plural definite) = “on the weekends”, also habitual, but with a clearer sense of all/the weekends.
  • Barnen lägger sig sent på helgerna. = The children go to bed late on (the) weekends.

In everyday speech, på helgen and på helgerna can often both be used for weekend habits; på helgerna sounds a bit more clearly plural/all weekends.

Why is it på helgen and not i helgen here?

The prepositions på and i both appear with helg, but they usually indicate different things:

• på helgen / på helgerna
  = on weekends (in general, as a recurring time)
  → used for habits or typical behaviour.

• i helgen
  = this weekend / last weekend (a particular weekend, depending on context)
  → used for one specific weekend.

Since the sentence describes what the children regularly do on weekends, på helgen is natural. I helgen would make it sound like you’re talking about just one weekend.

Why is sent used here, and what’s the connection to sen?

Sen and sent are closely related:

• sen is the base form meaning “late”.
• sent is the neuter / adverb form, and very often used as an adverb “late(ly)”.

In practice, when you say someone does something late in general, you usually use sent:

• Jag kommer hem sent. = I come home late.
• Barnen lägger sig sent. = The children go to bed late.

Sen is often used in predicative adjective position with an en-word noun:

• Bussen är sen. = The bus is late.

So here, sent functions as an adverb, describing how they go to bed: they go to bed late.

Could you also say Barnen lägger sig sent på helgerna? Is there any difference?

Yes, Barnen lägger sig sent på helgerna is also correct and very natural.

Subtle nuance:

• på helgen – weekends in general; sounds like “on the weekend / at weekends” (British-style).
• på helgerna – explicitly plural “on (the) weekends” (all weekends).

In most contexts, both will be understood as a habitual, weekend-related action. If you want to clearly emphasize that this happens on all / every weekend, på helgerna can feel slightly stronger.

Where should sent go in the sentence? Could I say Barnen lägger sig på helgen sent?

The normal word order is:

• [Subject] [Verb] [Reflexive pronoun] [Adverb of time/manner] [Adverbial phrase]
• Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen.

Typical adverb order in Swedish:

1. Manner/time adverbs like sent, tidigt (late, early)
2. Then more specific time expressions like på helgen, på kvällen, på lördagar

So the most natural is:

• Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen.

You could say Barnen lägger sig på helgen sent, but it sounds marked or odd in normal speech, as if you are stressing på helgen in a special way. For neutral, everyday Swedish, keep sent before på helgen.

What exactly is sig, and how does it change with different subjects?

Sig is the third-person reflexive pronoun: it refers back to he, she, it, one, they when they act on themselves.

Swedish reflexive pronouns:

• jag → mig (I → myself)
• du → dig (you → yourself, singular)
• han/hon/den/det/man → sig (he/she/it/one → himself/herself/itself/oneself)
• vi → oss (we → ourselves)
• ni → er (you → yourselves, plural)
• de → sig (they → themselves)

Examples with lägga sig:

• Jag lägger mig.
• Du lägger dig.
• Han lägger sig.
• Vi lägger oss.
• Ni lägger er.
• De lägger sig.

In Barnen lägger sig, barnen = they, so you use sig.

Does helg always mean “weekend”, or can it also mean “holiday”?

Helg mainly means:

1. Weekend (Saturday–Sunday, and often includes Friday evening in everyday speech)

   • Vad ska du göra i helgen? = What are you doing this weekend?

2. Public / religious holiday (especially in compounds)

   • helgdag = public holiday
   • julhelgen = the Christmas holidays/Christmas period

In Barnen lägger sig sent på helgen, it clearly means “on the weekend”, because it’s combined with på and describes a regular weekend routine.