Breakdown of Hon tar på sig jackan när det är kallt.
Questions & Answers about Hon tar på sig jackan när det är kallt.
In Swedish, ta på sig is a set expression (a phrasal + reflexive verb) that means to put on (clothes).
- ta = take
- på = on
- sig = oneself (reflexive pronoun)
So Hon tar på sig jackan literally is She takes the jacket on herself, which corresponds to English She puts on her jacket.
If you only say Hon tar jackan, it just means She takes the jacket (picks it up), not that she is putting it on to wear it.
Sig is the third‑person reflexive pronoun in Swedish. It refers back to hon (she).
The pattern is:
- jag → mig
- du → dig
- han/hon/den/det/man → sig
- vi → oss
- ni → er
- de → sig
With ta på sig, the reflexive pronoun shows that the action is done to the subject’s own body:
- Jag tar på mig jackan – I put my jacket on.
- De tar på sig jackorna – They put their jackets on.
Without sig/mig/dig/etc., the verb doesn’t mean put on (clothes); it just means take.
Swedish usually uses the definite form for clothes you put on your own body in this kind of everyday context. The jacket is understood as a specific, known item – “her jacket”:
- Hon tar på sig jackan = She puts on (her) jacket.
You can say Hon tar på sig en jacka, but that sounds more like:
- She puts on a jacket (some random/unspecified jacket, not necessarily her usual one).
So the definite jackan is more natural when it’s about regular, familiar clothing belonging to the person.
You can hear Hon tar jackan på sig, and it is understandable, but it sounds less natural and less idiomatic than Hon tar på sig jackan.
For this meaning (put clothing on oneself), Swedish strongly prefers the fixed order:
ta på sig + clothing
Putting the clothing word between tar and på sig is not the standard pattern here. In other phrasal verbs, particles can move, but with ta på sig (kläder) the fixed order is what learners should stick to.
Tar is the present tense of the verb ta (to take). It often expresses both present and habitual actions:
- Hon tar på sig jackan när det är kallt.
– She puts on her jacket when it is cold / whenever it is cold.
Main forms of ta:
- infinitive: att ta – to take
- present: tar – take(s)
- past (preterite): tog – took
- supine (used with har): tagit – taken
Examples:
- Igår tog hon på sig jackan. – Yesterday she put her jacket on.
- Hon har tagit på sig jackan. – She has put her jacket on.
In Swedish, det is often used as a dummy subject, similar to English it in it is cold.
Weather and general conditions normally use det:
- Det är kallt. – It is cold.
- Det regnar. – It is raining.
In the sentence när det är kallt, the structure is:
- när (when) + det (dummy subject) + är (is) + kallt (cold).
You cannot drop det here; när är kallt is ungrammatical.
In Swedish, main clauses (independent sentences) follow a V2 rule: the finite verb goes in second position:
- Det är kallt. – It is cold.
- Idag är det kallt. – Today it is cold.
But in subordinate clauses (introduced by words like när, att, eftersom), the verb does not move to second position. Instead, the order is:
[subjunction] + [subject] + [verb] …
So you get:
- när det är kallt – when it is cold
När är det kallt would be a main‑clause question (“When is it cold?”), not the “when”-time clause that appears in your sentence.
Both när and om can sometimes be translated as when, but they’re not interchangeable.
- när = when (for time; often something that actually happens or is expected to happen)
- om = if (for conditions; it may or may not happen)
In your sentence, när is natural because it describes a habitual situation tied to time:
- Hon tar på sig jackan när det är kallt.
– Whenever it is cold, she puts on her jacket.
If you say:
- Hon tar på sig jackan om det är kallt.
this focuses more on the condition (“if it’s cold, then she will put it on”), which is also possible, but a bit more conditional and less like a regular routine.
Sig is usually pronounced approximately like [sij], with a short i and a soft g (like y in English yes). In many accents it sounds close to “see” with a slight y-sound at the end.
Unlike English, Swedish does not mark gender or number in this reflexive form for third person:
- han tvättar sig – he washes himself
- hon tvättar sig – she washes herself
- de tvättar sig – they wash themselves
It’s sig in all those cases, never “sig själv” in ordinary sentences like this (though sig själv can be used for emphasis, similar to himself/herself).
Both involve clothing, but they describe different things:
ta på sig = to put on (clothes) – the action of getting dressed
- Hon tar på sig jackan. – She puts on her jacket.
ha på sig = to wear (clothes) – the state of already wearing something
- Hon har på sig en jacka. – She is wearing a jacket.
So ta på sig is about changing into the clothes, while ha på sig is about having them on.
Both can mean to put on (clothes), and in many everyday contexts they’re interchangeable:
- Hon tar på sig jackan.
- Hon sätter på sig jackan.
Both are understood as She puts on her jacket.
Subtle tendencies:
- ta på sig is very common and slightly more general.
- sätta på sig can sound a bit more like the physical act of placing something on (for example, glasögon – glasses), but it’s also widely used with clothes.
For a learner, you can safely use ta på sig as your default verb for putting on clothes.