Barnen känner sig glada efter konserten.

after

Breakdown of Barnen känner sig glada efter konserten.

• barnet: the child
• känna: to feel
• glad: happy

Questions & Answers about Barnen känner sig glada efter konserten.

1. Why does the sentence use barnen and not just barn?

Barn is a neuter noun that has the same form in singular and plural (one child = ett barn, several children = barn). To say the children, you add the definite plural ending -en: barnen.

• barn = child / children (indefinite)
  
  • ett barn = a child
  • många barn = many children
• barnen = the children (definite plural)
  
  • Barnen känner sig glada = The children feel happy

Swedish normally marks definiteness on the noun with an ending, not with a separate word like the.

2. Why is it känner sig instead of är (like “Barnen är glada…”)?

Both are possible, but they focus on slightly different things:

• Barnen är glada efter konserten.
  States a fact: The children are happy after the concert (describes their state).

• Barnen känner sig glada efter konserten.
  Emphasizes their subjective feeling: The children feel happy after the concert.

So känner sig (“feel”) highlights the children’s own experience of the emotion, while är (“are”) simply describes the state as an objective fact.

3. What does sig do here? Why do we need it after känner?