Hon vill ha bättre sömn och vet att mer motion kan hjälpa.

She wants to have better sleep and knows that more exercise can help.

Breakdown of Hon vill ha bättre sömn och vet att mer motion kan hjälpa.

• ha: to have
• och: and
• kunna: can
• vilja: to want
• bra: good
• hon: she
• veta: to know
• att: that
• hjälpa: to help
• mer: more
• sömnen: the sleep
• motionen: the exercise

Questions & Answers about Hon vill ha bättre sömn och vet att mer motion kan hjälpa.

Why is it “vill ha” and not just “vill”?

In Swedish, you usually say “vilja ha” (want to have) when what you want is a thing or a state, not an action.

• Hon vill ha bättre sömn.
  = She wants better sleep (a state/condition).

If you want to talk about an action, you’d use “vill” + another verb instead:

• Hon vill sova bättre.
  = She wants to sleep better.

So:

• want a thing/state: vilja ha
  • noun
• want to do something: vilja
  • verb (infinitive)

That’s why it’s vill ha bättre sömn, not just vill bättre sömn (which would be wrong).

Why is there no article? Why “bättre sömn” and not “en bättre sömn”?

Sömn (sleep) is treated like an uncountable noun in Swedish, similar to English “sleep”:

• We say “better sleep”, not “a better sleep”.

Same in Swedish:

• bättre sömn = better sleep
• en bättre sömn would sound unusual or too specific, like “a particular kind of better sleep”.

With abstract or uncountable nouns (sömn, vatten, musik, information) you generally omit the article when speaking in general terms:

• Jag behöver mer sömn. = I need more sleep.
• Hon vill ha bättre sömn. = She wants better sleep.

What’s the difference between “bättre sömn” and “sova bättre”?

They are close in meaning, but not identical:

• bättre sömn = better sleep (focus on the quality/condition of sleep as a thing or state)

  • Hon vill ha bättre sömn.
    She wants to have better sleep (in general).

• sova bättre = to sleep better (focus on the action of sleeping)

  • Hon vill sova bättre.
    She wants to sleep better.

Both are natural; you’d choose based on what you want to emphasize:

• the state (her sleep overall) → bättre sömn
• the action (how she sleeps) → sova bättre

Why is it just “Hon vill ha bättre sömn” and not something like “Hon har vill ha bättre sömn”?

Swedish doesn’t use auxiliary “have” (har) to form the present tense the way English sometimes does with “do” or “have”.

The verb vill (wants) already carries the tense:

• Hon vill ha bättre sömn. = She wants to have better sleep.

Using har here would be ungrammatical. The structure is:

• Subject + finite verb: Hon vill
• • infinitive or vilja ha + noun: ha bättre sömn

Why do we say “och vet” instead of repeating the subject as “och hon vet”?

Both are possible, but in this sentence:

• Hon vill ha bättre sömn och vet att …

the second clause shares the same subject (hon) as the first, so Swedish is perfectly happy to omit the repeated pronoun. This is very natural and common.

If you add hon again:

• Hon vill ha bättre sömn och hon vet att …

it’s still correct but sounds a bit heavier or more emphatic, like you’re stressing that she knows it.

What is the function of “att” in “vet att mer motion kan hjälpa”?

Here, att is a subordinator (like English “that” in “know that…”). It introduces a subordinate clause that acts as the object of vet:

• Hon vet att [mer motion kan hjälpa].
  She knows that [more exercise can help].

So the structure is:

• Hon vet att (She knows that)
• mer motion kan hjälpa (more exercise can help) → full clause functioning as “what she knows”.

In informal speech, att is sometimes omitted in Swedish (just like “that” in English), but including it is clear and standard:
Hon vet (att) mer motion kan hjälpa.

Why is it “mer motion” and not “mer motionen”?

Adding -en makes a noun definite (“the exercise”), which would sound too specific here.

• motion = exercise (in general)
• motionen = the exercise (a specific set of exercise, the exercise you mentioned earlier, etc.)

In this sentence, we’re talking about exercise in general, not some particular exercise routine, so we keep it indefinite:

• mer motion = more exercise (in general)

What does “motion” mean here? Is it the same as “träning”?

In this context, motion means physical exercise, physical activity for health.

There is a nuance:

• motion = everyday exercise/physical activity, often for health, not necessarily hard training.
  Walking, jogging, cycling, going to the gym lightly, etc.

• träning = training, working out, often with a sense of more deliberate or intensive exercise (sport training, gym routines, etc.).

So:

• mer motion is very natural when talking about healthier lifestyle for better sleep.
• mer träning might sound more like more intense workouts/training sessions.

Why do we say “kan hjälpa” and not simply “hjälper”?

Kan means can, and here it softens the statement to express possibility or likelihood, not a guaranteed effect:

• mer motion kan hjälpa = more exercise can help / may help.

If you say:

• mer motion hjälper = more exercise helps,

it sounds more absolute or general: “more exercise helps (in general; it is a fact)”. With kan, the speaker is saying: “It’s something that can help; it has the potential to help.” That fits well when giving advice or talking about health effects that vary from person to person.

Why is “hjälpa” in the infinitive form after “kan”?

Kan is a modal verb (can) in Swedish. Modal verbs are followed by a bare infinitive (the dictionary form of the verb, without “att”):

• kan hjälpa = can help
• kan sova = can sleep
• kan förstå = can understand

So the pattern is:

• Subject + kan + infinitive verb

That’s why the sentence uses kan hjälpa, not kan hjälper or kan att hjälpa.