Breakdown of Hon vill läsa i sin egen lägenhet.
Questions & Answers about Hon vill läsa i sin egen lägenhet.
Vill is the present tense of vilja (to want). On its own it means “wants / want to” and can be followed directly by a verb:
- Hon vill läsa. – She wants to read.
If you say vill ha, you normally want a thing, not an action:
- Hon vill ha en bok. – She wants a book.
If you say skulle vilja, it’s softer/politer, like “would like to”:
- Hon skulle vilja läsa i sin egen lägenhet. – She would like to read in her own apartment.
So vill + infinitive is the normal, neutral “wants to …” for actions.
After vill, Swedish uses the infinitive (dictionary form) without “att”:
- Hon vill läsa. – She wants to read.
- vill = finite verb
- läsa = infinitive
You only use läser when it’s the main verb by itself:
- Hon läser i sin egen lägenhet. – She is reading / reads in her own apartment.
So the pattern is:
- vill + infinitive → vill läsa, vill äta, vill sova, etc.
In Swedish, you usually use:
i for being inside something:
- i lägenheten – in the apartment
- i huset – in the house
på for being on / at certain places (often more open or surface-like):
- på jobbet – at work
- på skolan – at school
- på stan – in town
An apartment is a closed space you are inside, so i (lägenheten) is the normal choice:
- Hon vill läsa i sin egen lägenhet. – She wants to read in her own apartment (inside it).
Swedish distinguishes between:
Reflexive possessive (when the owner = the subject of the clause):
- sin (for en-words, singular)
- sitt (for ett-words, singular)
- sina (for plurals)
Non‑reflexive possessive (when the owner is someone else):
- hennes = her (someone else’s)
- hans = his
In the sentence:
- Hon vill läsa i sin egen lägenhet.
- Subject = Hon (she)
- Owner of the apartment = the same she
So you must use the reflexive form sin:
- Hon vill läsa i sin lägenhet. – She wants to read in her own (i.e. her own, not someone else’s) apartment.
If you say:
- Hon vill läsa i hennes egen lägenhet.
this normally means:
She wants to read in her (another woman’s) own apartment.
So hennes points to another female person, not the subject.
Egen means “own” and adds emphasis that the apartment belongs to her herself, not somebody else, or that it’s her private place.
- Hon vill läsa i sin lägenhet. – She wants to read in her apartment. (neutral)
- Hon vill läsa i sin egen lägenhet. – She wants to read in her own apartment. (emphasized; not at the library, not at a friend’s place, etc.)
Egen agrees in gender and number:
- egen – with en-words, singular: sin egen lägenhet
- eget – with ett-words, singular: sitt eget rum – her own room
- egna – for plurals: sina egna böcker – her own books
With possessive words like min, din, sin, hans, hennes, Swedish does not use the definite ending on the noun. You cannot “double” the definiteness.
So you say:
- sin lägenhet – her apartment
not ✗ sin lägenheten
Similarly:
- min bil – my car (not ✗ min bilen)
- Marias lägenhet – Maria’s apartment (not ✗ Marias lägenheten)
You get the definite ending -en/-et when there is no possessive:
- lägenheten – the apartment
- Hon vill läsa i lägenheten. – She wants to read in the apartment.
But with sin, you must use the indefinite singular: sin lägenhet.
Lägenhet is an en‑word (common gender).
- Indefinite singular: en lägenhet – an apartment
- Definite singular: lägenheten – the apartment
- Indefinite plural: lägenheter – apartments
- Definite plural: lägenheterna – the apartments
That’s why the reflexive possessive is sin (not sitt):
- sin lägenhet – her own apartment
- but: sitt hus – her own house (hus is an ett-word).
The regular word order here is:
- Subject – Hon
- Finite verb (present tense) – vill
- Infinitive verb – läsa
- Adverbial / prepositional phrase – i sin egen lägenhet
Swedish main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb is in second position.
You can move the place phrase to the front for emphasis, but vill must still come second:
- I sin egen lägenhet vill hon läsa. – In her own apartment, she wants to read.
This is correct and sounds natural, with a focus on the place.
But something like:
- ✗ Hon i sin egen lägenhet vill läsa.
feels wrong or at least very marked in normal speech.
You only need to change the subject pronoun and, if needed, the possessive:
- De vill läsa i sin egen lägenhet.
This means:
- They want to read in their own apartment.
(where their refers back to de, the same people)
Note:
- vill doesn’t change; vilja has one present form for all persons:
- jag vill, du vill, han/hon vill, vi vill, ni vill, de vill.
If you want to say that they want to read in someone else’s apartment, use deras:
- De vill läsa i deras lägenhet. – They want to read in their (other people’s) apartment.
You make both the noun and the possessive plural:
- Hon vill läsa i sina egna lägenheter.
Breakdown:
- sina – reflexive possessive, plural (her own, referring to hon)
- egna – plural form of egen
- lägenheter – apartments (indefinite plural)
So:
- sin egen lägenhet – her own (one) apartment
- sina egna lägenheter – her own apartments
Approximate pronunciation (Standard Swedish):
- Hon – [hʊn] (short u sound, like in English “put”)
- vill – [vɪl] (short i, like in “fill”)
- läsa – [ˈlɛːsa] (long ä like the e in “bed”, but longer)
- i – [iː] (like English “ee” in “see”)
- sin – [sɪn] (short i)
- egen – [ˈeːɡɛn] or [ˈeːjɛn] (long e, soft g)
- lägenhet – [ˈlɛːɡɛnheːt] (again long ä in läge-, het with long e)
Stress pattern:
- HON vill LÄːsa i sin Eːgen LÄːgenhet
Main stresses on HON, LÄː- in läsa/lägenhet, and Eː- in egen.