Learn Hardcore Swedish: Ibland drömmer hon på svenska, vilket gör henne stolt. - Sometimes she dreams in Swedish, which makes her proud.

In Swedish, placing an adverb like ibland (sometimes) at the beginning is very common and sounds natural. It also slightly emphasizes “sometimes”.

Grammar detail (V2 rule):

In main clauses, Swedish normally keeps the verb in second position.
When you move ibland to the front, the verb still has to be second:
- Ibland (1st position) drömmer (2nd) hon (3rd) på svenska …

If you start with Hon, then drömmer naturally becomes the second element:

Hon (1st) drömmer (2nd) ibland (later in the sentence)

Both word orders are correct and natural. The difference is just a small nuance in emphasis, not in meaning.

Why is it på svenska and not i svenska for “in Swedish”?

For languages, Swedish typically uses på rather than i:

på svenska – in Swedish
på engelska – in English
på franska – in French

So:

drömmer på svenska = dreams in Swedish
talar på svenska = speaks in Swedish
skriver på svenska = writes in Swedish

I is used for being physically inside something or in abstract “within” senses, but not with languages:

i huset – in the house
i bilen – in the car

So i svenska is wrong for the language; always say på svenska.

What exactly does vilket refer to in vilket gör henne stolt?

Here, vilket is a relative pronoun that refers not to a single noun, but to the entire preceding clause:

Ibland drömmer hon på svenska = Sometimes she dreams in Swedish
vilket gör henne stolt = which makes her proud

So vilket means “which”, referring to the fact that she sometimes dreams in Swedish.
You can think of it as:

The fact that she sometimes dreams in Swedish makes her proud.

In Swedish, vilket is used like this when the pronoun refers to a whole idea or situation, not a specific noun.

Could we use som instead of vilket here? Like: Ibland drömmer hon på svenska, som gör henne stolt?

No, som doesn’t work well in this sentence.

som usually refers directly to a noun:
- boken som jag läser – the book that I’m reading
- personen som ringde – the person who called

In your sentence, we’re referring to a whole clause (“Sometimes she dreams in Swedish”). For that, Swedish prefers vilket:

Ibland drömmer hon på svenska, vilket gör henne stolt. ✅

If you use som there, it sounds like som is trying to modify a specific noun, but there isn’t any suitable noun for it in that position, so it becomes ungrammatical or at least very awkward.

Why is there a comma before vilket?

The comma marks the start of a separate clause that comments on the whole first clause.

Ibland drömmer hon på svenska,
vilket gör henne stolt.

This is a typical non-restrictive relative clause (extra information/comment) introduced by vilket, and Swedish normally separates it with a comma.

So:

Main clause: Ibland drömmer hon på svenska
Relative/comment clause: vilket gör henne stolt

Writing it without a comma would be incorrect in standard written Swedish.

Why is it henne and not hon in vilket gör henne stolt?

Swedish, like English, has different pronoun forms for subject and object:

Subject: hon (she)
Object: henne (her)

In the clause vilket gör henne stolt:

vilket = subject (“which”)
gör = verb (“makes”)
henne = object (“her”)

So it parallels English:

“which makes her proud” – not “which makes she proud”.

Therefore, henne (object form) is required.

Why don’t we use sig (the reflexive pronoun) instead of henne here?

Sig is used when the subject and the object are the same person:

Hon tvättar sig. – She washes herself.

Here, however, the subject of the clause is vilket (“which”), referring to the situation, and the object is henne (“her”):

Subject: the fact that she sometimes dreams in Swedish
Verb: gör
Object: henne

Since the subject is not “she” but “the fact/situation,” we don’t use a reflexive pronoun.
So it must be henne, not sig.

Why is it stolt and not stolta or something like that?

Stolt is an adjective meaning “proud”. In this sentence it’s used as a predicative (after a verb like göra, vara, bli).

Agreement rules here:

Singular: stolt
- hon är stolt – she is proud
- det är stolt – it is proud
Plural: stolta
- de är stolta – they are proud

Since we’re talking about one person (hon/henne), we use the singular form:

…vilket gör henne stolt. – which makes her proud.

Stolta would be used if the subject were plural:

…vilket gör dem stolta. – which makes them proud.

Is drömmer here a present tense meaning now or regularly?

Drömmer is present tense, but in Swedish the present tense often covers habitual/repeated actions, not just actions happening right now.

So:

Ibland drömmer hon på svenska =
“Sometimes she dreams in Swedish.” (a recurring habit)

This is parallel to English, where “Sometimes she dreams in Swedish” is also simple present and expresses a repeated situation.

If you wanted to emphasize habit even more, you could say:

Hon brukar drömma på svenska ibland. – She usually / tends to dream in Swedish sometimes.

But the original sentence already sounds natural for a repeated action.

Could I say Hon drömmer på svenska ibland instead? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say that:

Ibland drömmer hon på svenska.
Hon drömmer på svenska ibland.

Both are grammatically correct and mean the same thing.

Nuance:

Ibland drömmer hon på svenska: slight emphasis on “sometimes”; stylistically a bit more common in written, narrative style.
Hon drömmer på svenska ibland: feels a bit more neutral or spoken-like, with ibland just tacked on at the end.

Functionally, both are fine in everyday Swedish.

Could you also say Ibland så drömmer hon på svenska? I’ve heard så used like that.

Yes, in spoken Swedish people often say:

Ibland så drömmer hon på svenska.

The så here doesn’t add much meaning; it’s more of a colloquial filler after an initial adverb or phrase. You’ll hear things like:

Ibland så tänker jag på det.
På kvällen så läser han.

In written standard Swedish, especially in more formal or careful writing, you normally omit this så and just write:

Ibland drömmer hon på svenska.

So:

With så: very common in speech, informal writing.
Without så: standard, neutral, good for all contexts.

Is there any difference between drömmer på svenska and drömmer om svenska?

Yes, they mean different things:

drömmer på svenska – dreams in Swedish (the language of the dream; she’s using Swedish in the dream)
drömmer om svenska – dreams about Swedish (the subject of the dream is the Swedish language or something related to Swedish)

So in your sentence:

Ibland drömmer hon på svenska = Sometimes she dreams in the Swedish language, which is exactly what the English translation suggests.