Breakdown of Klä på dig nu, vi ska gå ut.
Gå is to move on your own legs — to walk. It is not the all-purpose English to go. Jag går till skolan means you walk the whole way there.
When a vehicle takes you, Swedish switches verb: åka if you are being carried (Jag åker buss till jobbet) and köra if you are the one driving (Jag kör bilen själv). Both come later in this course.
Gå also means to leave (Kom ihåg att låsa dörren när du går), and with timetables, machines and abstract things it means to run or to turn out: Bussen går om två minuter, Tiden går fort, Om allt går bra.
Questions & Answers about Klä på dig nu, vi ska gå ut.
In everyday Swedish, klä på sig is the standard way to say to get dressed.
- klä på dig = get dressed (yourself)
- klä dig is grammatically possible, but:
- it sounds more old-fashioned or literary, or
- it often needs an object: klä dig varmt (dress warmly), klä dig fint (dress nicely).
So if you just want to say “Get dressed!”, klä på dig is the most natural and common phrase.
Literally:
- klä = dress
- på = on
- dig = yourself (object form of du = you)
So klä på dig is literally dress on yourself, which corresponds to English put clothes on yourself → get dressed.
The på is part of the verb phrase klä på (sig). Without på, klä just means to dress in a more general sense.