Learn Hardcore Swedish: Hennes kusin och hon har en nära relation och pratar om allt. - Her cousin and she have a close relationship and talk about everything.

In the sentence, hennes kusin och hon together are the subject: they are the ones who have a close relationship and talk about everything. So you must use hon, not henne, just like you would say in English:

“Her cousin and she have a close relationship…” (formal/grammatical) not
“Her cousin and her have a close relationship…” (considered wrong in formal English)

So: hennes kusin och hon is correct; hennes kusin och henne would be ungrammatical here.

Can I say “Hon och hennes kusin har en nära relation” instead? Does the order matter?

Yes, you can absolutely say:

Hon och hennes kusin har en nära relation och pratar om allt.

Swedish allows both orders:

Hennes kusin och hon…
Hon och hennes kusin…

Both are grammatically correct and mean the same thing. In everyday speech, many people will prefer “hon och hennes kusin” (just like “she and her cousin”) because it feels more natural to mention “hon” (she) first, but there is no strict rule about this; it’s more about style and rhythm.

Why is it “hennes kusin” and not “sin kusin” here?

Both hennes and sin mean “her”, but they are used differently:

hennes = her (non‑reflexive possessive, does not refer back to the subject)
sin/sitt/sina = her/his/their own (reflexive possessive, refers back to the subject of the clause)

In this sentence, there are two people in the subject: hennes kusin och hon. That makes reference ambiguous if you tried to use sin:

Sin kusin och hon… would be unclear: whose cousin is it?

Because of that ambiguity, Swedish normally uses the non‑reflexive form hennes when the possessor is not clearly the same as a single subject, or when you want to stress that it’s someone else’s cousin.

So hennes kusin = her cousin (some “her” that we already know from context).

Could you ever say “sin kusin och hon” in Swedish?

It is theoretically possible but very unusual and usually avoided, because it is hard to interpret. With sin, speakers expect it to refer back to the subject of the clause, but here the subject is the whole phrase sin kusin och hon, which makes it circular and confusing.

In practice, native speakers would choose a clearer option:

Hennes kusin och hon… (her cousin and she)
Or reformulate: Hon och hennes kusin…

So for normal, clear Swedish, sin kusin och hon is not recommended.

Why do we say “har en nära relation” and not just “har nära relation”?

In Swedish, relation is a countable noun, and countable singular nouns usually need an article:

en relation = a relationship
relationen = the relationship

So you normally say:

De har en nära relation. = They have a close relationship.

Saying “har nära relation” without en sounds incomplete or ungrammatical, a bit like saying “They have close relationship” in English instead of “a close relationship.”

Why is it “en nära relation” and not plural like “nära relationer”?

In this context you are talking about the relationship between these two people as a single thing. That is naturally expressed in the singular:

en nära relation = one close relationship (between them)

You could use the plural nära relationer if you meant that someone (or they) have several close relationships with different people:

Hon har många nära relationer.
She has many close relationships.

But between two specific people, it’s normally en nära relation.

Why is “nära” used as an adjective in “en nära relation”? I thought “nära” meant “near/close” in space.

Nära is both:

an adverb:
- Hon står nära dörren. = She stands close to the door.
and an adjective:
- en nära vän = a close friend
- en nära relation = a close relationship

When it comes before a noun like vän or relation, it functions as an adjective meaning emotionally close / intimate / strong. This is very similar to English “close friend” or “close relationship.”

Why is it “har” and “pratar” even though the subject is plural? Do Swedish verbs not change?

Correct: modern Swedish verbs do not change form for person or number in the present tense.

jag har – I have
du har – you have
hon/han har – she/he has
vi har – we have
de har – they have

Same with pratar:

jag pratar – I talk
de pratar – they talk

So with a plural subject like hennes kusin och hon, the verbs still appear in the same form:

Hennes kusin och hon har…
Hennes kusin och hon pratar…

No extra ‑s or other ending is added for plural.

Why do we only say “hennes kusin och hon” once and then have “har … och pratar …”? Why not repeat the subject?

Swedish works like English here: if the same subject does several actions in a row, you normally mention the subject once and connect the verbs:

Hennes kusin och hon har en nära relation och pratar om allt.

Literally: “Her cousin and she have a close relationship and talk about everything.”

You could repeat the subject, but it sounds heavier and less natural in this simple sentence:

Hennes kusin och hon har en nära relation, och (hennes kusin och) hon pratar om allt.

So the normal, fluent way is to keep the subject once and connect the verbs with och.

What does “om” mean in “pratar om allt”, and can you say “pratar allt” instead?

In pratar om allt, the preposition om means “about”:

prata om något = to talk about something
pratar om allt = talk about everything

You cannot drop om here.
“Pratar allt” would be ungrammatical; it would literally look like “talks everything” and doesn’t make sense.

So the structure you need is:

prata om + [topic]
- pratar om vädret = talk about the weather
- pratar om allt = talk about everything

Can I say “talar om allt” or “säger allt” instead of “pratar om allt”? What’s the difference?

All three are related to speaking, but they’re used differently:

prata – very common, informal/neutral, “talk, chat”
- pratar om allt = they talk about everything
tala – a bit more formal or used in set phrases, “speak”
- talar om politik = speaks about politics (can sound a bit more formal)
säga – “to say” (used for specific things you say, often with a quote or object)
- Hon säger allt till honom. = She tells him everything.
  (Here allt is what she says.)

In your sentence, you’re describing their general habit of talking freely with each other, so pratar om allt is the most natural and idiomatic choice:

Hennes kusin och hon har en nära relation och pratar om allt. ✅
…talar om allt is possible but sounds slightly more formal or less colloquial.
…säger allt changes the meaning to “they tell everything (to someone)” and lacks the om (“about”), so it’s not equivalent.