Learn Hardcore Swedish: Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon. - She wants to talk about the party tomorrow.

vill = the conjugated (finite) verb, 3rd person singular present
berätta = infinitive verb that follows the modal, meaning to tell / to relate / to recount

Why is it berätta and not säga or prata?

All three are common verbs, but they’re used differently:

berätta = to tell / recount / narrate (often something with a bit of content or a “story”)
- Hon vill berätta om festen = She wants to tell (you) about the party.
säga = to say
- Hon vill säga något = She wants to say something.
prata / tala = to talk / speak
- Hon vill prata om festen = She wants to talk about the party.

In this sentence, berätta suggests she wants to relate what happened at the party, not just briefly mention it or have a conversation about it. If the idea were more like “discuss the party,” prata om festen would also be natural.

What does om mean here, and why do we need it?

Here om means about.

Some Swedish verbs require a specific preposition, similar to English phrasal verbs. Berätta commonly takes om when you say what the telling is about:

berätta om något = to tell about something
- Hon vill berätta om festen = She wants to tell about the party.
- Kan du berätta om din resa? = Can you tell (me) about your trip?

You cannot say *Hon vill berätta festen in standard Swedish; om is needed.

Why is it festen and not en fest or just fest?

Festen is the definite form: the party.

en fest = a party
festen = the party

Using festen implies that the speakers both know which party is being referred to — maybe it has already happened, or it’s a specific party they have talked about.

Compare:

Hon vill berätta om en fest imorgon.
She wants to tell about a party tomorrow. (some party, not specified)
Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.
She wants to tell about the party tomorrow. (a specific, known party)

Does imorgon mean “tomorrow,” and can it also be written as i morgon?

Yes. Imorgon means tomorrow.

Both forms are correct:

imorgon
i morgon

Modern usage tends to prefer the single word imorgon, but i morgon is still accepted and understood. They mean exactly the same thing; it’s just a spelling variation.

Where can imorgon go in the sentence? Is the word order flexible?

Swedish word order is somewhat flexible with adverbs like imorgon, but not completely free. All of these are grammatically fine, with slightly different emphasis:

Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.
Neutral: She wants to tell about the party tomorrow.
Imorgon vill hon berätta om festen.
Emphasis on tomorrow: Tomorrow, she wants to tell about the party.
Hon vill imorgon berätta om festen.
Possible but sounds more formal or marked; not the most natural in everyday speech.

The most common everyday version is exactly the one you have: Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.

Does imorgon mean that she will tell tomorrow, or that the party is tomorrow?

By default, Swedish speakers will usually understand:

Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.
→ She wants to tell about the party tomorrow (the telling happens tomorrow).

However, in writing this can be ambiguous, just like in English:

She wants to tell about the party tomorrow. (tell tomorrow)
She wants to tell about the party tomorrow. (party tomorrow)

If you specifically want to say the party is tomorrow, you can make it clearer:

Hon vill berätta om festen som är imorgon.
She wants to tell about the party that is tomorrow.
Hon vill imorgon berätta om festen igår.
Tomorrow she wants to tell about yesterday’s party. (no ambiguity)

Why is only Hon capitalized? Are pronouns like jag ever capitalized like “I” in English?

In Swedish, you do not capitalize pronouns like jag (I), hon (she), han (he), etc., except at the beginning of a sentence.

So in:

Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.

Hon is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence, not because it is a pronoun. In the middle of a sentence you would write:

Jag vet att hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.
(here hon is lowercase)

Unlike English, Swedish does not capitalize the word for “I” (jag) in the middle of a sentence.

Why is vill in the present tense if we are talking about the future (tomorrow)?

Swedish often uses the present tense to talk about the near future, especially when there is a time expression like imorgon (tomorrow), snart (soon), etc.

Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.
Literally: She wants to tell about the party tomorrow.
Natural meaning: She wants to (and plans to) do it tomorrow.

This is very similar to English present with a future time:

“I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“The train leaves at 7.”

You could also talk about future with ska (shall / going to):

Hon ska berätta om festen imorgon.
She is going to tell about the party tomorrow. (more about a plan/intention than desire)

Could I say Hon vill berätta festen imorgon without om?

No, that is not correct Swedish.

With berätta, when you say what you are telling about, you normally use om:

berätta om något = tell about something

So:

✅ Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.
❌ *Hon vill berätta festen imorgon.

Without om, berätta needs a different kind of object, more like tell (a story / something):

Hon vill berätta en historia. = She wants to tell a story.
Kan du berätta något roligt? = Can you tell something funny?

Is the word order Hon vill berätta… correct with the verb coming second? How does that relate to Swedish V2 word order?

Yes, it fits the V2 rule (finite verb in second position), which is central in Swedish.

Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.

Here:

Hon = subject, in first position
vill = finite verb (present tense), in second position
berätta = infinitive verb, which can follow the finite verb
om festen imorgon = rest of the clause

The V2 rule concerns only the finite verb (vill), not the infinitive (berätta). So this order is exactly what Swedish grammar expects.

How is this sentence pronounced? Can you give a rough guide?

A simplified approximate pronunciation (not strict IPA, just a guide):

Hon ≈ “hoon” (short, with rounded lips; not like English moon but similar)
vill ≈ “vill” (like English vill in villa)
berätta ≈ “beh-RET-ta”
- stress on RET
- ä like the e in English get
- double t makes the t sound a bit longer
om ≈ “om” (like British English bomb but with a clearer o)
festen ≈ “FES-ten”
- stress on FES
- e like get, en is a weak uhn sound at the end
imorgon ≈ “ee-MOR-ron”
- stress on MOR
- i like ee in see
- Swedish o often like the o in more (but a bit shorter)
- gn/nn at the end like a soft n

So very roughly:

Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon ≈ Hoon vill beh-RET-ta om FES-ten ee-MOR-ron.

Can I replace berätta om with prata om in this sentence?

Yes, you can, but the nuance changes slightly.

Hon vill berätta om festen imorgon.
She wants to tell about the party tomorrow (more like recounting what happened, giving information/a story).
Hon vill prata om festen imorgon.
She wants to talk about the party tomorrow (more like having a conversation or discussion about it).

Both are grammatically correct; choose the verb depending on whether you mean tell a story / give information (berätta) or have a conversation (prata).