Learn Hardcore Swedish: Hon undrar var hennes vän sitter, men jag ser honom vid dörren. - She wonders where her friend is sitting, but I see him by the door.

Direct question (stand‑alone):
Var sitter hennes vän?
Here you have the typical question word order: Var + verb + subject.
Indirect question (embedded):
Hon undrar var hennes vän sitter.
In an embedded clause, Swedish uses normal clause word order, not question order:
- Subject (hennes vän) comes before the verb (sitter).

So:

Direct: Var sitter hennes vän?
Indirect: Hon undrar var hennes vän sitter.

What is the difference between undrar and frågar, and why is undrar used?

undra = to wonder, to be curious about something in your head.
fråga = to ask (someone), to direct a question at another person.

In the sentence:

Hon undrar var hennes vän sitter
means she is thinking/wondering about it; she is not necessarily asking anyone.

If she actually asks someone, you’d use frågar:

Hon frågar var hennes vän sitter.
= She asks where her friend is sitting.

Why is sitter used instead of just är?

Swedish often uses posture verbs instead of just är (is) to describe how and where someone is:

sitter = is sitting
står = is standing
ligger = is lying

So:

Hon undrar var hennes vän sitter
literally: She wonders where her friend is sitting.

You could say var hennes vän är, but it is less specific. Using sitter gives a more natural and vivid description in Swedish.

Why is it hennes vän and not sin vän?

Swedish has two types of possessive words for “her/his”:

hennes / hans = her / his (non‑reflexive, can refer to someone else)
sin / sitt / sina = her / his (reflexive, refers back to the subject of the same clause)

In var hennes vän sitter, the clause’s subject is vän, not hon. The friend cannot own itself, so sin would be wrong here.

Also, hennes clearly tells us “her friend” (belonging to hon in the main clause). Because the possessor (hon) is in a different clause from the noun (vän), Swedish uses hennes, not sin.

So:

Correct: Hon undrar var hennes vän sitter.
Sin would only be used when the possessor is also the subject of that clause, e.g.:
Hon älskar sin vän. (She loves her own friend.)

Why do we say honom and not han?

Swedish personal pronouns have different forms for subject and object:

Subject form: han = he
Object form: honom = him

In Jag ser honom vid dörren:

jag is the subject (I)
ser is the verb (see)
honom is the object (the one being seen)

So you must use the object form honom, just like English uses him and not he here:

I see him by the door.
Jag ser honom vid dörren.

How do we know the friend is male? Vän looks neutral.

The noun vän itself does not mark gender; it just means friend.

However, the pronoun used later in the sentence is honom (him), which is male. That tells us that in this context, vän refers to a male friend.

If the friend were female, you would expect:

Jag ser henne vid dörren. = I see her by the door.

So the gender information comes from honom / henne, not from vän.

Why is it just vän after hennes, and not something like hennes en vän or hennes vännen?

In Swedish, when you use a possessive pronoun (like min, din, hans, hennes, vår, er, deras), you do not add an article:

en vän = a friend
vännen = the friend
min vän = my friend (not min en vän or min vännen)
hennes vän = her friend (not hennes en vän or hennes vännen)

So the pattern is:

Article alone: en vän / vännen
Possessive instead of article: min vän, hennes vän, deras vän

What does vid dörren literally mean, and how is it different from i dörren or på dörren?

vid dörren = by / at the door, near the door.
i dörren = in the doorway / in the door opening, often implying someone is standing in the doorway itself.
på dörren = on the door, usually physically on the surface (e.g. a sign on the door).

In Jag ser honom vid dörren, he is near the door, not in the doorway and not on the surface of the door.

Some examples:

Det står en man vid dörren.
There is a man by the door.
Hon står i dörren.
She is standing in the doorway.
Det sitter en lapp på dörren.
There is a note on the door.

Why is it dörren (the door) and not just en dörr (a door)?

Swedish uses the definite form dörren when the thing referred to is specific or known in the context, similar to English the door.

In most realistic contexts, “by the door” refers to a particular door that both speaker and listener can identify: the main door, the door of the room they’re in, etc. Hence:

vid dörren = by the door.

Vid en dörr (by a door) is grammatically correct but would sound like you aren’t sure which door, or it is just any random door. The definite form feels more natural here.

Do you always need a comma before men, like in ..., men jag ser honom vid dörren?

In Swedish, men (“but”) introduces a new main clause. Using a comma before men in such cases is very common and usually recommended, especially in written Swedish:

Hon undrar var hennes vän sitter, men jag ser honom vid dörren.

You will also see texts without the comma in some styles, but inserting it here is standard and makes the sentence clearer by separating the two main clauses:

Hon undrar var hennes vän sitter
men jag ser honom vid dörren

Both verbs are in present tense: undrar, ser, sitter. How does Swedish present tense compare to English?

Swedish has one present tense form that covers both English simple present and present continuous:

Hon undrar
= She wonders / She is wondering
Jag ser honom
= I see him / I am seeing him
Han sitter vid dörren
= He sits by the door / He is sitting by the door

So you do not change the verb form between “I see” and “I am seeing”; Swedish just uses a single present form (here: undrar, ser, sitter) and context decides whether it is best translated with simple or continuous in English.