Breakdown of Ibland blir hon arg på sig själv när hon glömmer nyckeln.
Questions & Answers about Ibland blir hon arg på sig själv när hon glömmer nyckeln.
Blir literally means becomes / gets, while är means is.
- Ibland blir hon arg på sig själv...
= Sometimes she gets/becomes angry with herself... (a reaction/change of state) - Ibland är hon arg på sig själv...
= Sometimes she is angry with herself... (describes her state at various times, more static)
In this sentence, the idea is that forgetting the key causes her to become angry, so blir (change) is more natural than är (state).
Yes. Both are correct:
- Ibland blir hon arg på sig själv...
- Hon blir ibland arg på sig själv...
The meaning is the same: Sometimes she gets angry with herself...
Word order notes:
- In main clauses, Swedish has verb in second position (V2).
- Ibland is placed first, so the verb blir comes second:
Ibland (1) blir (2) hon (3) arg... - If you start with Hon, you can put ibland after the verb:
Hon (1) blir (2) ibland (3) arg...
Both are natural.
With arg (angry), Swedish usually uses på when you are angry at someone or something:
- arg på någon – angry at someone
- arg på sig själv – angry at oneself
- arg på chefen – angry at the boss
You can also see:
- arg över något – angry about something (more about a situation or fact)
So arg på sig själv is the standard way to say angry with/at herself.
Sig is the reflexive pronoun for han / hon / hen / de (he, she, they) when the object refers back to the subject of the clause.
- hon → sig
- han → sig
- de → sig
Then själv adds emphasis: herself, himself, themselves.
So:
- hon är arg på sig → she is angry at herself (correct but less common without själv here)
- hon är arg på sig själv → standard and emphatic: she is angry with herself
Henne själv would refer to another woman, not the subject:
- Ibland blir hon arg på henne själv
sounds like: Sometimes she gets angry at that other woman herself. (not reflexive)
So for the subject hon, and meaning herself, you need sig själv.
Swedish often uses the definite form of a noun instead of a possessive when it’s obvious whose thing it is.
- hon glömmer nyckeln
literally: she forgets the key
but understood as: she forgets her key (probably her own key)
Other examples:
- Jag måste tvätta håret. – I have to wash (my) hair.
- Han tappade telefonen. – He dropped (his) phone.
You can say:
- när hon glömmer sin nyckel – when she forgets her key (explicitly her own)
- när hon glömmer hennes nyckel – when she forgets her key (of another woman)
The original nyckeln is natural, general, and doesn’t over-specify.
Yes, you can say när hon glömmer sin nyckel.
Difference in nuance:
- när hon glömmer nyckeln – when she forgets the key (context tells us it’s hers)
- när hon glömmer sin nyckel – when she forgets her own key (slightly more explicit and personal)
Both are correct, and in everyday speech nyckeln is very common because it’s clear enough from context.
Both are possible, but they have slightly different shades:
när hon glömmer nyckeln
Uses present tense to describe a repeated / habitual situation:
whenever she forgets the key, she gets angry with herself.när hon har glömt nyckeln
Present perfect in the subclause:
when she has forgotten the key – more focused on the completed action at a specific time.
In general statements about habits, Swedish often uses present tense in both clauses, like the original sentence.
Because när here is a subordinating conjunction (when), not a question word.
In subordinate clauses (like när hon glömmer nyckeln), the word order is:
- Subjunction: när
- Subject: hon
- Verb: glömmer
So: när hon glömmer nyckeln
If när started a question, you could have:
- När glömmer hon nyckeln? – When does she forget the key?
So:
- Statement clause after när: när + subject + verb
- Direct question: När + verb + subject
Yes, it is a complete correct sentence:
- Ibland blir hon arg på sig själv.
= Sometimes she gets angry with herself.
In the original example, när hon glömmer nyckeln simply adds the reason/condition:
- Ibland blir hon arg på sig själv när hon glömmer nyckeln.
Sometimes she gets angry with herself when she forgets the key.
They describe different kinds of “losing”:
glömmer – forgets (mental lapse)
- Hon glömmer nyckeln. – She forgets the key.
tappar bort – loses (cannot find it anymore)
- Hon tappar bort nyckeln. – She loses the key / misplaces it.
tappar – drops (physically)
- Hon tappar nyckeln. – She drops the key.
So in the sentence the problem is that she forgets to bring/take the key, not that she has permanently lost it, hence glömmer.
Yes, it’s grammatically correct:
- Ibland är hon arg på sig själv när hon glömmer nyckeln.
Nuance:
- blir arg – focuses on the moment of getting angry (reaction)
- är arg – describes her state when this situation happens
So:
- blir arg: Sometimes, as a reaction to forgetting the key, she gets angry.
- är arg: Sometimes, when she forgets the key, she is (found/seen to be) angry.
Both are understandable, but blir arg is more natural for a typical emotional reaction.
Swedish main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb is always in second position, no matter what comes first.
In the sentence:
- Ibland (1st element)
- blir (2nd element: the verb)
- hon (3rd element: the subject)
- arg på sig själv...
If you start with the subject instead:
- Hon (1st)
- blir (2nd)
- ibland (3rd)
- arg på sig själv...
This V2 order is a key difference from English word order.