Hon vill minska stressen och ser hur kaffet påverkar kroppen och hjärnan.

She wants to reduce the stress and sees how coffee affects the body and the brain.

Breakdown of Hon vill minska stressen och ser hur kaffet påverkar kroppen och hjärnan.

• och: and
• kaffet: the coffee
• vilja: to want
• hon: she
• se: to see
• hur: how
• minska: to reduce
• hjärnan: the brain
• stressen: the stress
• påverka: to affect
• kroppen: the body

Questions & Answers about Hon vill minska stressen och ser hur kaffet påverkar kroppen och hjärnan.

Why is it stressen (with -en) and not just stress?

Stressen is the definite form: stress = stress, stressen = the stress.

Swedish often uses the definite form where English uses a general noun.
So:

• Hon vill minska stress. – sounds a bit odd / incomplete.
• Hon vill minska stressen. – She wants to reduce (her/the) stress.

The definite form here points to the stress in her life, the stress she has, not stress as an abstract concept.

Why is it vill minska and not vill att minska?

Vill is a modal verb (like want to, can, must).
With modal verbs in Swedish, you normally use a bare infinitive (without att):

• Hon vill minska stressen. – She wants to reduce the stress.
• Hon kan minska stressen. – She can reduce the stress.
• Hon måste minska stressen. – She must reduce the stress.

You use att with many other verbs:

• Hon försöker att minska stressen. – She tries to reduce the stress.
• Hon hoppas att minska stressen. – She hopes to reduce the stress.

What exactly does minska mean here? Is it reduce, decrease, or lessen?

Minska can cover all of these: reduce, decrease, lessen, cut down on.

• Hon vill minska stressen.
  = She wants to reduce / lessen the stress.

You can use minska transitively (with an object):

• Hon vill minska stressen. – reduce the stress.

or intransitively (something gets smaller by itself):

• Stressnivån minskar. – The stress level is decreasing.

Colloquially you might also see minska på stressen or minska ner stressen, but plain minska stressen is standard and natural.

Why is it ser and not a verb like understands or notices?

In Swedish, se (present: ser) is often used more broadly than English see. It can mean:

• literally see with your eyes
• notice
• realize
• understand from evidence

In this sentence:

• Hon ... ser hur kaffet påverkar kroppen och hjärnan.
  = She sees/realizes/notices how the coffee affects the body and the brain.

So ser here means she perceives/understands the effect, not that she literally watches her organs.

Why is it ser hur and not ser att? What is the difference between hur and att here?

Both are possible, but the nuance changes:

• Hon ser att kaffet påverkar kroppen och hjärnan.
  – She sees/realizes that coffee affects the body and the brain.
  (Focus: the fact that it has an effect.)

• Hon ser hur kaffet påverkar kroppen och hjärnan.
  – She sees/realizes how coffee affects the body and the brain.
  (Focus: the way / process / manner of the effect.)

Hur introduces an indirect question about manner (how).
Att just introduces a statement clause (that-clause).

Why is it kaffet and not just kaffe?

Kaffe is an ett-word:

• (ett) kaffe – coffee
• kaffet – the coffee

Using kaffet here suggests specific coffee in context:

• the coffee she drinks
• coffee as it appears in her life (her coffee habit)

So:

• Hon ser hur kaffet påverkar kroppen.
  = She sees how the coffee / coffee in her case affects the body.

If you said Hon ser hur kaffe påverkar kroppen, it could sound more like talking about coffee in general as a substance, a bit more scientific or generic. Both are possible; kaffet makes it feel more personal/ concrete.

How does the verb påverkar work? Do I need a preposition after it?

Påverka means to affect / influence and it takes a direct object with no preposition:

• Kaffet påverkar kroppen. – The coffee affects the body.
• Stress påverkar sömnen. – Stress affects sleep.
• Vädret påverkar humöret. – The weather affects the mood.

So the pattern is:

påverka + (direct object)
påverka kroppen, påverka hjärnan, påverka oss, etc.

You do not say påverka på kroppen.

Why are kroppen and hjärnan in the definite form (with -en) and not kropp and hjärna?

Kroppen = the body
Hjärnan = the brain

In Swedish, when talking about someone’s own body parts or organs, you usually use the definite form without a possessive pronoun:

• Hon tvättar händerna. – She washes her hands.
• Han har ont i ryggen. – He has pain in his back.
• Hon ser hur kaffet påverkar kroppen och hjärnan.
  – She sees how coffee affects (her) body and (her) brain.

English tends to say her body, her brain, but Swedish uses the definite forms instead of sin/sina here.

Why is the word order hur kaffet påverkar kroppen and not hur påverkar kaffet kroppen?

Hur kaffet påverkar kroppen... is a subordinate clause (an indirect question) after ser.

In Swedish:

• In main questions, the verb comes early:

  • Hur påverkar kaffet kroppen? – How does coffee affect the body?

• In subordinate clauses, the order is like a statement:

  • Hon ser hur kaffet påverkar kroppen.
    – literally: She sees how coffee affects the body.

So after hur in a subordinate clause, the pattern is:

hur + subject + verb + ...
hur kaffet påverkar kroppen

Both verbs are in the present: vill minska and ser. Does this mean only right now?

Swedish present tense is used for:

• actions happening now
• habits and general truths
• future (in some contexts)

Here it describes a current, ongoing situation or general attitude:

• Hon vill minska stressen – She (now) wants to reduce her stress.
• (hon) ser hur kaffet påverkar kroppen och hjärnan – she sees/realizes how coffee affects the body and brain (in general / repeatedly).

So it matches English simple present (wants, sees, affects) describing a general or current state, not only this exact moment.