Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig.

I think the news is serious.

Breakdown of Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig.

• jag: I
• vara: to be
• tycka: to think
• att: that
• allvarlig: serious
• nyheten: the piece of news

Questions & Answers about Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig.

What does tycker mean in this sentence, and how is it different from tror?

Tycker here means to think / to be of the opinion. It expresses a personal, subjective opinion based on your feelings, values, or experience.

Tror is closer to to believe, in the sense of thinking something is probably true, often without direct evidence, or having a belief about the future.

• Jag tycker att filmen är bra.
  I think (in my opinion) that the movie is good.

• Jag tror att det blir regn i morgon.
  I think / I believe it will rain tomorrow. (a prediction or belief)

In your sentence, Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig, you are giving a personal opinion about the seriousness of the news item, so tycker is the natural choice.

Why do we need att after tycker here?

In this sentence, att is a subordinating conjunction, meaning that in English. It introduces a subordinate clause:

• Main clause: Jag tycker
• Subordinate clause: att nyheten är allvarlig

So the structure is:

Jag tycker att + [full clause]

In English, that can often be dropped:

• I think (that) the news is serious.

In standard Swedish, att is normally kept in this kind of sentence. It marks clearly where the new clause starts and makes the sentence easier to process.

Note: This att is not the same as the att that corresponds to English to (the infinitive marker), as in att läsa (to read). Here it does not mark an infinitive; it links two clauses.

Could I leave out att and just say Jag tycker nyheten är allvarlig?

You will hear native speakers drop att in casual spoken Swedish, so Jag tycker nyheten är allvarlig does occur in everyday speech.

However:

• In standard written Swedish, you should keep att.
• For learners, it’s safer and more correct to always include att after tycker when it introduces a clause.

So:

• Recommended: Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig.
• Colloquial speech: Jag tycker nyheten är allvarlig.

Why is it nyheten and not nyhet?

Nyhet is an en-word noun:

• en nyhet = a piece of news, a news item
• nyheten = the piece of news, the news item
• nyheter = news items
• nyheterna = the news items / the news

In your sentence, nyheten is definite singular: the specific news item being discussed.

So:

• Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig.
  I think (that) the news item is serious.
  → We both know which particular piece of news we mean.

If you said Jag tycker att nyhet är allvarlig, it would be ungrammatical, because you would be missing an article. You’d need either:

• Jag tycker att en nyhet är allvarlig.
  I think a piece of news is serious. (very odd without more context)

or the original, with nyheten, to refer to a known, specific item.

But in English we say the news is serious, not the news item. Why singular nyheten here and not plural nyheterna?

English news is grammatically uncountable, but Swedish nyhet is a regular countable noun:

• en nyhet – one news item
• flera nyheter – several news items
• nyheterna – the news items / the (TV) news

Your sentence is talking about one particular piece of news:

• Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig.
  I think this particular news item is serious.

If you wanted to talk about the news in general (for example, all the stories in a news broadcast), you could say:

• Jag tycker att nyheterna är allvarliga.
  I think the news (the various stories) is serious.

So nyheten focuses on one specific story, whereas nyheterna would be more like the news as a collection of stories.

Why is it allvarlig and not allvarligt?

Swedish adjectives change form to agree with the noun (or pronoun) they describe.

The adjective allvarlig has these main forms:

• allvarlig – common gender (en-word), singular: en allvarlig sak
• allvarligt – neuter singular (ett-word) or adverb: ett allvarligt problem, han tar det allvarligt
• allvarliga – plural or definite with a noun: allvarliga saker, den allvarliga nyheten

In your sentence, allvarlig is a predicative adjective (it comes after är and refers back to the subject nyheten):

• Subject: nyheten (an en-word, common gender, singular)
• Verb: är
• Predicate adjective: allvarlig

So the correct form is:

• nyheten är allvarlig
  not allvarligt

If the subject were neuter, you would use allvarligt:

• problemet är allvarligt
  the problem is serious

Since nyheten is definite, shouldn’t the adjective also be definite, like allvarliga?

This is a very common confusion point.

Swedish makes a distinction between:

1. Attributive adjectives – before the noun
2. Predicative adjectives – after a verb like är, blir, etc.

1. Attributive (before the noun)
With a definite noun, the adjective usually gets the -a ending and you use a determiner:

• den allvarliga nyheten – the serious news item
• de allvarliga nyheterna – the serious news items

Here the adjective is allvarliga.

2. Predicative (after the verb)
When the adjective is after the verb and describes the subject, it does not take that definite ending:

• Nyheten är allvarlig. – The news item is serious.
• Nyheterna är allvarliga. – The news items are serious.
• Problemet är allvarligt. – The problem is serious.

So:

• den allvarliga nyheten (attributive, definite form)
• nyheten är allvarlig (predicative, base form for an en-word)

That’s why allvarlig is correct here, not allvarliga.

Can I say Jag tycker om att nyheten är allvarlig?

No, that would be strange in most contexts.

• Tycker om means to like / to be fond of / to enjoy.
• Tycker (without om) is what you use to express an opinion.

So:

• Jag tycker om nyheter.
  I like news. (I enjoy consuming news.)

• Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig.
  I think (that) the news item is serious. (my opinion about it)

If you say Jag tycker om att nyheten är allvarlig, it comes out as something like:

• I like that the news is serious.

That’s grammatically possible but semantically odd; it suggests you are somehow happy that the news is serious.

For simply stating an opinion, use tycker (att), not tycker om.

Is the word order in Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig fixed, or can I move things around?

In neutral, standard Swedish, this word order is the normal and most natural one:

• Main clause: Jag tycker

  • Subject: Jag
  • Verb: tycker (finite verb in second position – V2 rule)

• Subordinate clause: att nyheten är allvarlig

  • Subordinator: att
  • Subject: nyheten
  • Verb: är
  • Predicate adjective: allvarlig

You can move the subordinate clause to the front (for emphasis or style):

• Att nyheten är allvarlig tycker jag.
  That the news is serious, I think. (marked, more formal/literary)

But you cannot freely scramble the elements inside each clause. For example:

• ✗ Tycker jag att nyheten är allvarlig is only okay if it’s a yes/no question (and then you’d normally add a question mark and rising intonation):
  Tycker jag att nyheten är allvarlig? – Do I think the news is serious?

For a simple statement, Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig is the standard form.

How do I pronounce tycker, nyheten, and allvarlig?

Approximate pronunciations (Swedish standard pronunciation, showing stressed syllables in CAPS):

• tycker – TYC-ker

  • IPA: [ˈtʏkːɛr]
  • y = a front rounded vowel, between English u in put and ee in see, but with rounded lips.
  • Double kk gives a short vowel and a longer k sound.

• nyheten – NY-hee-ten

  • IPA: [ˈnyːˌheːtɛn] (main stress on ny, secondary on he)
  • ny = [nyː], same y sound as in tycker, but long.
  • heten = a clear heh-ten sound, with short final -en.

• allvarlig – AL-var-lig

  • IPA: [ˈalːˌvɑːrlɪg]
  • Double ll makes the vowel a short in the first syllable.
  • The g at the end is usually pronounced clearly [g] in standard Swedish here.

Put together, Jag tycker att nyheten är allvarlig will have the main stresses on JAG, TYC-, NY-, and AL-.