På promenadstigen känner jag den friska luften från sjön.

On the walking path I feel the fresh air from the lake.

Breakdown of På promenadstigen känner jag den friska luften från sjön.

• jag: I
• på: on
• känna: to feel
• den: the
• från: from
• sjön: the lake
• promenadstigen: the walking path
• frisk: fresh
• luften: the air

Questions & Answers about På promenadstigen känner jag den friska luften från sjön.

In the phrase "På promenadstigen", why is the preposition på used instead of i?

På is used for being on surfaces or paths, so på promenadstigen is literally on the walking path / on the trail.

You would typically use:

• på with things like på gatan (on the street), på vägen (on the road), på stigen (on the path)
• i with enclosed or more clearly “inside” spaces: i skogen (in the forest), i huset (in the house)

So i promenadstigen would sound wrong, because you’re not inside the path, you’re walking on it.

Is "promenadstigen" really one word? What does it consist of, and what does the -en ending mean?

Yes, promenadstigen is one compound noun in Swedish.

• promenad = walk, stroll
• stig = path, trail
• promenadstig = walking path
• promenadstig
  • -en → promenadstigen = the walking path

The -en at the end marks the definite singular form of a common-gender noun:

• en stig → stigen (the path)
• en promenadstig → promenadstigen (the walking path)

Why is it "känner jag" and not "jag känner" after På promenadstigen?

This is the V2 rule in Swedish main clauses: the finite verb must be in second position.

In the sentence:

På promenadstigen känner jag den friska luften från sjön.

• På promenadstigen (an adverbial phrase) is placed first.
• Then the verb must come: känner.
• The subject jag comes after the verb.

If you start with the subject instead, you get normal subject–verb order:

Jag känner den friska luften från sjön på promenadstigen.

Both are correct; the version with På promenadstigen känner jag… just emphasizes the location a bit more.

What exactly does känner mean here? Could you also use tycker, märker, or something else?

Känner is from känna and here it means to feel / to sense (physically):

• Jag känner den friska luften = I feel/sense the fresh air.

Comparisons:

• tycker = to think / have an opinion → Tycker du om det? (Do you like it?)
• märker = to notice → Jag märker ingen skillnad (I don’t notice any difference).
• känner can also mean know (a person): Jag känner honom (I know him).

In this sentence, känner is the natural verb, because you are physically experiencing the fresh air.

Why is it "den friska luften" and not just "frisk luft"?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:

• frisk luft = fresh air (in general, indefinite)
• den friska luften = the fresh air (specific, something you and the listener can identify)

In the sentence, den friska luften refers to a particular fresh air that comes from the lake and that the speaker is experiencing right now, so it’s made definite:

• luft (air)
• luften (the air)
• den friska luften (the fresh air)

What is the function of den in "den friska luften"? English doesn’t say "the fresh the air".

Swedish has “double definiteness” with adjectives:

1. The noun gets a definite ending:
   
   • luft → luften (the air)
2. If there is an attributive adjective (like frisk), you also need a definite article before the adjective:
   
   • den friska luften

Pattern for common-gender nouns (en-words):

• en frisk luft = a fresh air
• frisk luft = fresh air (indefinite, general)
• den friska luften = the fresh air (definite, specific)

So den is the definite article required when you have an adjective before a definite noun.

Why is the adjective frisk changed to friska in "den friska luften"?

Adjectives in Swedish change form to agree with definiteness and number.

For a common-gender noun (an en-word) in the definite singular, the adjective takes -a:

• Indefinite singular: frisk luft (fresh air)
• Definite singular: den friska luften (the fresh air)

General pattern for adjectives like frisk:

• en frisk hund (a healthy dog)
• ett friskt barn (a healthy child)
• friska hundar/barn (healthy dogs/children – plural)
• den friska hunden (the healthy dog)
• det friska barnet (the healthy child)
• de friska hundarna/barnen (the healthy dogs/children)

So friska here agrees with den … luften (definite singular).

Why is it "sjön" and not just "sjö" after från?

Sjö means a lake (indefinite), and sjön means the lake (definite):

• en sjö = a lake
• sjön = the lake

The phrase från sjön therefore means from the lake, referring to a specific lake that is contextually known (for example, the lake by the path).

Saying från sjö would be ungrammatical; nouns that are countable generally need to be either indefinite (en sjö) or definite (sjön), not bare like in English.

Could you say "från sjöns luft" or "av sjön" instead of "från sjön"? Would it mean the same thing?

Possible, but different:

• från sjön = from the lake (source/origin of the air). This is the most natural and idiomatic here.
• från sjöns luft = from the lake’s air – grammatically fine, but sounds a bit heavy/poetic in this context.
• av sjön = literally of the lake / by the lake; with air, luften av sjön sounds odd or non-native. Av is more often used for:
  • cause: trött av jobbet (tired from work)
  • composition: gjord av trä (made of wood)

So från sjön is the normal way to say that the fresh air is coming from the lake.

Can I change the word order and say "Jag känner den friska luften från sjön på promenadstigen"? Is that still correct?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct:

Jag känner den friska luften från sjön på promenadstigen.

Differences in feel:

• På promenadstigen känner jag den friska luften från sjön.
  → Slightly more emphasis on where this is happening (on the path).

• Jag känner den friska luften från sjön på promenadstigen.
  → More neutral; starts with the subject and the experience.

Both follow the V2 rule (in the second version, Jag is first and känner is still the second element).