Learn Hardcore Swedish: Varje måndag öppnar morfar sin postlåda och blir glad när han hittar ett brev från henne. - Every Monday Granddad opens his mailbox and becomes happy when he finds a letter from her.

In Varje måndag öppnar morfar sin postlåda …
- 1st element: Varje måndag (time expression)
- 2nd element: öppnar (verb)
- 3rd element: morfar (subject)

If you start with the subject instead, you get:

Morfar öppnar sin postlåda varje måndag.

This is also perfectly correct. The difference is just what you emphasise:

Varje måndag öppnar morfar … → emphasis on every Monday
Morfar öppnar … varje måndag → more neutral; subject comes first

What you cannot say is:

Varje måndag morfar öppnar sin postlåda … ⟶ ungrammatical, because the verb is no longer in second position.

What exactly does morfar mean? Is it just “grandfather”?

morfar is more specific than English grandfather.

Swedish has four basic grandparent words:

morfar = mother’s father
mormor = mother’s mother
farfar = father’s father
farmor = father’s mother

So morfar always means maternal grandfather.

A few extra points:

These words are not capitalised in Swedish, even though English capitalises Grandpa in some contexts.
You can add a possessive if needed:
- min morfar = my maternal grandfather
- In many contexts, just morfar is clear enough and sounds natural, especially in family stories.

Why is it sin postlåda and not hans postlåda?

Swedish uses reflexive possessive pronouns (sin, sitt, sina) to show that something belongs to the subject of the same clause.

morfar is the subject
sin postlåda = his own mailbox (belonging to morfar)

If you used hans postlåda, it usually suggests the mailbox belongs to another male, not to the subject.

Compare:

Morfar öppnar sin postlåda.
= Grandpa opens his own mailbox.
Morfar öppnar hans postlåda.
≈ Grandpa opens his mailbox (another man’s).

Forms of the reflexive possessive:

sin – with en-words: sin postlåda
sitt – with ett-words: sitt hus
sina – with plurals: sina böcker

Is there any difference between postlåda and brevlåda?

Both postlåda and brevlåda generally mean mailbox / letterbox, and in many contexts they are interchangeable.

Subtle tendencies (not strict rules):

brevlåda
- Very common in everyday speech.
- Often used for the private mailbox at someone’s house or building.
postlåda
- Can be used the same way, but is also common for public mailboxes belonging to the postal service.

In your sentence, sin postlåda could just as well be sin brevlåda without changing the meaning in normal conversation.

Why is everything in the present tense (öppnar, blir, hittar) even though it happens every Monday?

Swedish present tense is used not only for actions happening right now, but also for habitual or repeated actions, like routines.

So:

Varje måndag öppnar morfar sin postlåda …
= Every Monday, Grandpa opens his mailbox … (a regular habit)

You could also add brukar to make the “habit” meaning extra explicit:

Varje måndag brukar morfar öppna sin postlåda …
≈ Every Monday, Grandpa usually opens his mailbox …

But with Varje måndag, the simple present öppnar already sounds perfectly natural and clear.

Why is it blir glad and not är glad?

bli means to become / to get, so:

blir glad = becomes happy or gets happy

This focuses on the change of emotional state, caused by finding a letter.

If you said:

… och är glad när han hittar ett brev från henne.

it would mean more like “and is happy when he finds a letter from her” – describing his state, not the moment of becoming happy. Native speakers strongly prefer blir glad here because it matches the idea of he feels happy as a result of finding the letter.

In när han hittar ett brev från henne, how does när work, and why is the word order han hittar, not hittar han?

Here, när is a subordinating conjunction meaning when (in the sense of “at the time that…”):

när han hittar ett brev från henne
= when he finds a letter from her

In subordinate clauses (introduced by words like när, att, eftersom, om), the basic word order is subject–verb–object:

han (subject)
hittar (verb)
ett brev (object)

So:

när han hittar ett brev … ✅ correct
när hittar han ett brev … ❌ here it would normally be understood as a question: When does he find a letter…?

Summary:

Main clause: verb in 2nd position → Varje måndag öppnar morfar …
Subordinate clause: no V2 → när han hittar …

Why is it ett brev and not just brev?

brev is an ett-word (neuter noun):

indefinite singular: ett brev
definite singular: brevet
indefinite plural: brev
definite plural: breven

In your sentence, he finds one specific letter each time, not letters in general, so Swedish uses the indefinite singular with article:

ett brev = a letter / one letter

You might see brev without ett in more general or abstract uses:

att skriva brev = to write letters (in general)
Jag gillar att få brev. = I like getting letters (not one specific letter)

But with hittar ett brev, the article ett is natural because we’re talking about an individual item.

Why is it från henne and not av henne for “a letter from her”?

For letters, messages, etc., Swedish normally uses från to express from (a person):

ett brev från henne = a letter from her
ett mejl från min chef = an email from my boss

av is used more for:

agents in passive constructions:
- Boken skrevs av henne. = The book was written by her.
authors / creators of works:
- en låt av ABBA = a song by ABBA

So:

ett brev från henne ✅ natural, means she is the sender
ett brev av henne ❌ sounds wrong or at least very odd in this context

Why is it han but henne? How do these pronouns work?

Swedish, like English, has different forms for subject and object pronouns.

Relevant forms:

han = he (subject form)
honom = him (object form)
hon = she (subject form)
henne = her (object form)

In your sentence:

när han hittar ett brev från henne
- han is the subject of the verb hittar → “he finds…”
- henne is an object of the preposition från → “from her”

So:

han hittar = he finds
från henne = from her

If you tried to swap them:

när honom hittar ett brev från hon ❌ ungrammatical
när han hittar ett brev från hon ❌ wrong case after från
när honom hittar ett brev från henne ❌ wrong case for subject

The correct combination, as in the sentence, is han (subject) and henne (object).