Hon är stolt när hon märker att hon kan ändra små saker i sitt liv.

She is proud when she notices that she can change small things in her life.

Breakdown of Hon är stolt när hon märker att hon kan ändra små saker i sitt liv.

• vara: to be
• liten: small
• i: in
• kunna: can
• när: when
• hon: she
• att: that
• sitt: her
• saken: the thing
• stolt: proud
• märka: to notice
• ändra: to change
• livet: the life

Questions & Answers about Hon är stolt när hon märker att hon kan ändra små saker i sitt liv.

Why is it sitt liv and not hennes liv?

Swedish distinguishes between “her own life” and “someone else’s life” in a way English doesn’t.

• sitt liv = her own life (reflexive possessive)
• hennes liv = her life (could be another woman’s life, not the subject’s)

Because the subject of the clause is hon and she is talking about her own life, Swedish uses the reflexive possessive sitt:

• hon … sitt liv → same person → use sitt
• If it were about another woman’s life, you’d say:
  Hon kan ändra små saker i hennes liv. = She can change small things in another woman’s life.

So sitt liv makes it clear that the life belongs to the same person as hon in that clause.

Why is hon repeated three times? Could you leave some of them out?

In Swedish, subject pronouns are almost never dropped, even when it’s clear from context. So the repetition of hon is normal and natural:

• Hon är stolt
• när hon märker
• att hon kan ändra…

Each clause (main or subordinate) needs its own explicit subject:

• Main clause: Hon är stolt
• Subordinate clause 1: när hon märker…
• Subordinate clause 2: att hon kan ändra…

You can’t omit the subject the way you might in English or some other languages; for example, you cannot say:

• ✗ …att kan ändra små saker… (missing subject)

You must say:

• ✓ …att hon kan ändra små saker…

What is the function of när here? Is it the same as English “when”? Could you use om instead?

Here när is a subordinating conjunction meaning when (in the sense of “whenever / at the time that”).

• Hon är stolt när hon märker…
  = She is proud when(ever) she notices…

när is used for time-related “when”:

• När jag kommer hem, äter jag. = When I get home, I eat.

om can also translate as “when” sometimes, but it mainly means if:

• Om jag kommer hem tidigt, äter jag. = If I get home early, I eat.

In this sentence, om hon märker att… would suggest a conditional idea (“if she happens to notice”), which slightly changes the nuance. när hon märker is more like a regular, recurring situation: whenever she notices, she feels proud.

What does märker mean exactly, and how is it different from lägger märke till or upptäcker?

märker is the present tense of märka, which here means to notice / to realize.

Common nuances:

• märka (att …)
  To notice or realize something, often more about becoming aware:

  • Hon märker att hon kan ändra…
    She realizes / notices that she can change…

• lägga märke till
  Literally “to lay notice to”; used for noticing something concrete, often with a noun:

  • Hon lägger märke till små saker.
    She notices small things.

• upptäcka
  To discover, find out (often something new, surprising, or previously unknown):

  • Hon upptäcker att hon kan ändra sitt liv.
    She discovers that she can change her life.

In your sentence, märker att… is very natural: she becomes aware / realizes that she can change small things in her life.

Why is there an att before hon kan ändra, but no att before ändra?

There are two different grammatical roles for att in Swedish:

1. att as a conjunction (“that”) starting a clause:

   • Hon märker att hon kan ändra…
     → att introduces the clause hon kan ändra små saker i sitt liv.

2. att as an infinitive marker (“to”) before a verb in infinitive:

   • Hon försöker att ändra små saker. = She tries to change small things.

However, Swedish omits the infinitive att after modal verbs like:

• kan (can)
• ska (shall, going to)
• vill (wants to)
• måste (must)
• bör (should)

So we say:

• hon kan ändra (not hon kan att ändra)
• hon vill ändra
• hon måste ändra

In your sentence:

• att = “that” (conjunction)
• kan ändra = “can change” (modal verb + infinitive without att)

Can the word order be changed to start with När hon märker…? Is that still correct?

Yes, you can also say:

• När hon märker att hon kan ändra små saker i sitt liv, är hon stolt.

This is perfectly correct and natural. The differences:

1. Emphasis / focus

   • Hon är stolt när hon märker…
     → Focus on her being proud.
   • När hon märker… är hon stolt.
     → Focus a bit more on the situation/time when she is proud.

2. Word order rules
   In main clauses, Swedish is “verb-second” (V2): the finite verb takes the second position.

   • Starting with När hon märker… makes that whole clause position 1.
   • The main-clause verb är must then come in position 2:
     • [När hon märker …], är hon stolt.

Both orders are grammatical; you just slightly change what you highlight first.

Why is it kan ändra and not something like kan att ändra or kan förändra?

Two separate points:

1. kan ändra vs kan att ändra
   After modal verbs like kan, Swedish does not use att before the infinitive. So:

   • ✓ hon kan ändra = she can change
   • ✗ hon kan att ändra = incorrect

2. ändra vs förändra

   • ändra: to change, alter, modify something (often more specific or smaller):
     • ändra små saker = change small things
   • förändra: to change something more fundamentally; often used for bigger or more general changes:
     • förändra sitt liv = change/transform her life (in a major way)

In your sentence, ändra små saker is very natural, because it’s precisely about small things. You could say förändra små saker, but it sounds less idiomatic; förändra fits better with broader, more “big-picture” changes.

Why is it små saker and not something like lite saker?

små and lite are different words:

• små is the plural form of liten = small, little (in size/importance):

  • en liten sak → små saker (small things)

• lite is mainly:

  • an adverb/quantifier for uncountable nouns:
    • lite vatten = a little water
  • or an adverb:
    • lite trött = a little tired

For countable “things,” you need the plural adjective små, not lite:

• ✓ små saker = small things
• ✗ lite saker (not idiomatic)

If you wanted to say “a few things,” you’d use something like:

• några saker = a few things
• få saker = few things (not many)

Why is it saker without any article, and not de små sakerna or something with “the”?

In Swedish, when you use a possessive (like mitt, din, hans, hennes, sitt, etc.), or when you’re speaking in a general way, you usually don’t add a definite article to the noun.

Here:

• små saker is indefinite plural: small things (in general)
• It’s not pointing to any specific set of “the small things”; it’s generic.

If you made it definite, it would be:

• de små sakerna = the small things

Your sentence is more general: she can change small things in her life (not some specifically known set). So the indefinite plural små saker is right.

Note also that possessives and definiteness interact; for example:

• sitt liv (possessive + bare singular)
  — you don’t say sitt livet; Swedish avoids “double definiteness” here.

Why do we use sitt liv and not sina liv or sin liv?

The reflexive possessive changes to match the grammatical form of the possessed noun, not the owner:

• sin: with en-words, singular
  • sin bok (bok = en-word)
• sitt: with ett-words, singular
  • sitt liv (liv = ett-word)
• sina: with plural, any gender
  • sina böcker (books), sina liv (lives)

Here:

• liv is an ett-word in singular → you must use sitt:
  • sitt liv

You’d only use sina liv if you were talking about several lives:

• De är stolta när de märker att de kan ändra små saker i sina liv.
  They are proud when they notice that they can change small things in their (own) lives.

Why is the tense present (är, märker, kan ändra)? Does it mean “whenever she notices” like a general truth?

Yes. Swedish present tense often covers:

1. Ongoing present

   • She is right now proud because she notices…

2. Habitual / general (like English “whenever” or “when she…” in general):

   • Hon är stolt när hon märker att hon kan ändra…
     → Whenever she notices that she can change small things in her life, she is proud.

Context usually decides which reading is intended. This sentence naturally reads as a general or recurring situation, not just a one-time event.

If you wanted to stress habit more strongly, you could also say:

• Hon brukar bli stolt när hon märker att…
  = She usually becomes proud when she notices that…

But the plain present as in the original is very normal for this kind of “whenever X happens, Y is true” statement.