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Hon jobbar mycket på vardagarna.

Hon jobbar mycket på vardagarna.
She works a lot on weekdays.

Breakdown of Hon jobbar mycket på vardagarna.

jobba
to work
hon
she
på
on
vardagen
the weekday
mycket
much
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Questions & Answers about Hon jobbar mycket på vardagarna.

What is the difference between jobbar and arbetar?

Both jobbar and arbetar mean “works” (from att jobba / att arbeta = “to work”).

  • jobbar is more informal/neutral, very common in everyday spoken Swedish.
  • arbetar is a bit more formal, often used in writing, in official contexts, or when talking a bit more “seriously” about work.

In this sentence, Hon jobbar mycket på vardagarna, using jobbar sounds natural and conversational. You could also say Hon arbetar mycket på vardagarna; it’s correct but feels slightly more formal or written.

Why is it mycket and not många?

Swedish distinguishes:

  • mycket = much / a lot (of something uncountable or an activity)

    • Hon jobbar mycket. – She works a lot.
    • Hon dricker mycket kaffe. – She drinks a lot of coffee.

  • många = many (countable things)

    • Hon har många jobb. – She has many jobs.
    • Hon jobbar många timmar. – She works many hours.

Here, jobbar describes an activity, not separate countable things, so you use mycket, not många.
Hon jobbar mycket = She works a lot / very much.

What does på vardagarna literally mean, and why do we use på?
  • vardag = weekday (literally “everyday day”)
  • vardagar = weekdays (indefinite plural)
  • vardagarna = the weekdays (definite plural)
  • på = “on”

So på vardagarna literally is “on the weekdays”.

In Swedish, på is the normal preposition used with days and parts of the week:

  • på måndag – on Monday
  • på helgen – on the weekend
  • på vardagarna – on (the) weekdays

You don’t say i vardagarna in this meaning; på is the natural choice here.

What is the difference between vardagar and vardagarna?
  • vardagar = weekdays, but grammatically indefinite plural, like “weekdays (in general)”.
  • vardagarna = the weekdays, definite plural, like “the (normal) weekdays / on weekdays”.

In practice:

  • på vardagar – “on weekdays” (a bit more general, often used too)
  • på vardagarna – also “on weekdays”, but feels slightly more like a known, specific set (the usual Monday–Friday).

Both can often be used in similar contexts. This sentence uses vardagarna, which is very natural and common here.

Can I change the word order, like På vardagarna jobbar hon mycket?

Yes. Both are correct:

  1. Hon jobbar mycket på vardagarna.
  2. På vardagarna jobbar hon mycket.

Swedish has a V2 rule: the finite verb (here jobbar) usually comes second in the sentence, regardless of what comes first.

  • In (1), the first element is Hon, so jobbar comes second.
  • In (2), the first element is På vardagarna, so jobbar still comes second, and hon comes after the verb.

The meaning is basically the same; putting På vardagarna first emphasizes the time a bit more:
“On weekdays, she works a lot.”

How does Swedish express “She is working a lot” if there is no -ing form?

Swedish usually uses the simple present for both English “works” and “is working”.

  • Hon jobbar mycket.
    • can mean “She works a lot” (in general)
    • or “She is working a lot” (these days / right now, from context)

There is no separate progressive tense like English is working. Context and sometimes extra words make it clear:

  • Hon jobbar mycket just nu. – She is working a lot right now.
  • Nu för tiden jobbar hon mycket. – These days she is working a lot.
Does hon jobbar mycket mean she works many hours or that she works hard?

It can mean either, depending on context:

  • Many hours / a high workload:
    • “She works a lot” in the sense of long days, many shifts.
  • High intensity / hard:
    • “She works very hard.”

In everyday speech, jobbar mycket often implies both: many hours and quite hard.
If you specifically want to say hard, you can also say:

  • Hon jobbar hårt. – She works hard.
  • Hon sliter hårt på vardagarna. – She toils/struggles hard on weekdays (stronger).
How do you pronounce vardagarna?

A rough guide using English-like sounds:

  • var– like “var” in “varnish”, with an a like in British “father”
  • –dag– like “darg”, again with that open a
  • –ar– similar to “ar” in “car” (Swedish r is tapped or rolled)
  • –na like “nah”

Important detail: The rd in vardagarna usually becomes a single retroflex sound in many accents, a bit like a blend of r and d pronounced farther back in the mouth.

Very roughly: “VAR-dah-gar-na”, with the stress on the first syllable: VAR-dagarna.

What exactly does hon mean, and is it always “she”?
  • hon = she (3rd person singular, female).
  • It is used like English “she” for clearly female people or sometimes animals.

Swedish also has:

  • han = he
  • den / det = it (also used for some animals/things, depending on grammatical gender)
  • de (pronounced dom) = they
  • hen = a gender-neutral singular pronoun (used instead of hon/han when gender is unknown, irrelevant, or non-binary).

In your sentence, Hon jobbar mycket på vardagarna, it’s clearly “She works a lot on weekdays.”

How would I say “She doesn’t work much on weekdays” in Swedish?

You add inte (“not”) after the verb, and keep mycket:

  • Hon jobbar inte mycket på vardagarna.
    = She doesn’t work much on weekdays.

Word order:

  1. Hon (subject)
  2. jobbar (verb)
  3. inte (negation)
  4. mycket (adverb: how much)
  5. på vardagarna (time expression)

If you front the time expression:

  • På vardagarna jobbar hon inte mycket.
    (“On weekdays, she doesn’t work much.”)