Familjen planerar en liten fest för att överraska honom på hans födelsedag.

The family is planning a small party to surprise him on his birthday.

Breakdown of Familjen planerar en liten fest för att överraska honom på hans födelsedag.

• liten: small
• en: a
• familjen: the family
• för att: to
• på: on
• honom: him
• hans: his
• planera: to plan
• festen: the party
• överraska: to surprise
• födelsedagen: the birthday

Questions & Answers about Familjen planerar en liten fest för att överraska honom på hans födelsedag.

Why is it Familjen and not just familj at the start of the sentence?

Familjen is the family. Swedish usually marks definiteness with an ending on the noun instead of a separate word like English the.

• en familj = a family
• familjen = the family

Here we are talking about a specific family, so the definite form familjen is used.

What tense is planerar, and why is it used for something in the future?

Planerar is the present tense of planera (to plan). Swedish present tense is used more broadly than in English:

• It can mean is planning (right now).
• It can also express a planned or scheduled future, like English is going to or sometimes will.

So Familjen planerar ... can be translated as The family is planning ... or The family are going to plan / are planning ... about a future event (the birthday).

Why is it en liten fest and not ett liten fest or en litet fest?

Two things are happening:

1. Gender of the noun

   • fest is an en-word: en fest (a party), festen (the party).
     So the article must be en, not ett.

2. Adjective agreement
   Attributive adjectives (before the noun) agree with the noun’s gender/number:

   • en liten fest (a small party) – en-word, singular, indefinite → liten
   • ett litet hus (a small house) – ett-word, singular, indefinite → litet
   • den lilla festen (the small party) – definite → lilla
   • små fester (small parties) – plural → små

So en liten fest is the correct combination: en-word + singular + indefinite → liten.

Could you leave out en and just say Familjen planerar liten fest?

No, not in standard Swedish. You normally need the article in this case:

• Familjen planerar en liten fest = The family is planning a little party.

Swedish drops the article in some common patterns (e.g. professions: Hon är lärare – She is a teacher), but not with a normal, specific countable noun like fest in this sentence. So liten fest without en sounds wrong here.

What exactly does för att mean here, and why not just att?

För att literally means in order to and introduces a purpose:

• ... en liten fest för att överraska honom ...
  = ... a small party *in order to surprise him ...*

Att on its own is just the infinitive marker (to), not specifically “in order to”. Compare:

• Jag försöker att sova. = I’m trying to sleep.
• Jag tränar för att bli stark. = I work out in order to become strong.

In this sentence, the family’s purpose in planning the party is to surprise him, so för att is the natural choice.

Why is it överraska honom and not överraska han?

Because honom is the object form of han (he → him).

Swedish personal pronouns change form depending on whether they are subject or object, similarly to English:

• han = he (subject)
• honom = him (object)

So you say:

• Han överraskar honom. = He surprises him.
• Familjen vill överraska honom. = The family wants to surprise him.

Using han after the verb here would be ungrammatical.

Why is it hans födelsedag and not sin födelsedag?

Hans means his (not referring back to the subject).
Sin/sitt/sina is a reflexive possessive that usually refers back to the subject of the clause.

• Familjen planerar en fest på sin födelsedag.
  = The family is planning a party on its own birthday. (the family’s birthday)

• Familjen planerar en fest på hans födelsedag.
  = The family is planning a party on his birthday (some male person, not the family).

In the original sentence, hans must refer to honom (that guy), not to familjen, so hans födelsedag is correct.

Why do you say på hans födelsedag instead of something like i hans födelsedag?

Swedish uses på with many time expressions where English uses on:

• på måndag = on Monday
• på kvällen = in the evening
• på julafton = on Christmas Eve
• på hans födelsedag = on his birthday

The preposition i is used with other kinds of time expressions (e.g. i januari, i dag, i går), but not with födelsedag in this sense. So på hans födelsedag is the natural idiomatic choice.

Is the word order Familjen planerar en liten fest för att överraska honom... fixed, or can it be rearranged?

The given order is the neutral, natural one:

• [Familjen] [planerar] [en liten fest] [för att överraska honom på hans födelsedag].
  subject – verb – object – purpose phrase

Swedish main clauses generally follow a verb-second (V2) rule: the finite verb (here planerar) should appear in the second position. You can move an adverbial to the front, but then planerar must still be second:

• På hans födelsedag planerar familjen en liten fest för att överraska honom.
  (On his birthday the family is planning a small party to surprise him.)

Inside the för att infinitive phrase, the order överraska honom is fixed:
infinitive verb + object.

Could you say this in another natural way in Swedish, and does it change the meaning?

Yes, for example:

• Familjen planerar en liten fest för att överraska honom när han fyller år.

This means almost the same thing:

• på hans födelsedag = on his birthday (as a calendar date/event)
• när han fyller år = when he turns a year older / when it is his birthday

Both are idiomatic. När han fyller år feels a bit more colloquial/explicit about the act of having a birthday, while på hans födelsedag is a bit more compact and slightly more formal.