Learn Hardcore Swedish: Jag tycker att den vita kjolen passar henne bättre än den svarta. - I think the white skirt suits her better than the black one.

tycker
- clause (often with att)
- Jag tycker (att) den vita kjolen passar henne bättre …
- Means “I think / I’m of the opinion that …”
- It introduces your opinion.
tycker att
- The att here is the conjunction “that” (not the infinitive marker).
- Jag tycker att … = “I think that …”
- In spoken Swedish, att can often be dropped:
  - Jag tycker den vita kjolen passar henne bättre … (very common in speech).
tycker om
- noun/infinitive
- Jag tycker om den vita kjolen. = “I like the white skirt.”
- Jag tycker om att läsa. = “I like to read.”
- Here om is a preposition; tycka om is a phrasal verb meaning “to like”, not “to think”.

In your sentence, tycker att is correct because you are introducing a full clause (what you think), not saying that you “like” something in general.

Do I have to use att in Jag tycker att den vita kjolen passar henne bättre …, or can I leave it out?

Both are grammatically correct:

With “att” (more neutral/standard, especially in writing):
- Jag tycker att den vita kjolen passar henne bättre än den svarta.
Without “att” (very common in speech and informal writing):
- Jag tycker den vita kjolen passar henne bättre än den svarta.

Unlike in English, where that is very often dropped, in written Swedish att is still quite common and often preferred for clarity, especially in longer or more complex sentences.

So:

Spoken / informal: leaving att out is fine.
Written / careful: keeping att is usually safest.

Why is it den vita kjolen and not den vit kjol?

Two main reasons: adjective agreement and definite forms.

Adjective agreement:
- The basic adjective is vit (“white”).
- In front of a definite noun (with den/det/de), the adjective usually takes the ending -a:
  - den vita kjolen (the white skirt)
  - det vita huset (the white house)
  - de vita bilarna (the white cars)
    So vit → vita here.
Definiteness (“the”):
Swedish uses double definiteness when an adjective comes before a definite noun:
- Determiner: den (common-gender singular)
- Adjective in definite form: vita
- Noun with definite ending: kjol
  - -en → kjolen
    Together: den vita kjolen = “the white skirt”.

So den vit kjol is ungrammatical; you must say den vita kjolen.

Why do we use den and not det in den vita kjolen?

Because kjol (“skirt”) is a common gender noun (an en-word):

en kjol – a skirt
kjolen – the skirt

For definite noun phrases with adjectives:

Common gender (en-words): den
- den röda bilen (the red car – bil is an en-word)
- den vita kjolen (the white skirt)
Neuter gender (ett-words): det
- det stora huset (the big house – hus is an ett-word)

So den vita kjolen is correct because kjol is an en-word.

Why do we have both den and the ending -en in den vita kjolen? Isn’t that “double the”?

Yes, this is exactly what’s called double definiteness, and it’s normal in Swedish.

When you have:

a definite noun, and
an adjective in front of that noun,

you must:

Put a definite article before the noun: den / det / de
Add the definite ending to the noun: -en / -et / -na
Put the adjective in definite form (usually ending in -a).

So:

Without adjective:
- kjol → kjolen (the skirt)
With adjective:
- den (def. article) + vita (def. adj.) + kjolen (def. noun)
- den vita kjolen (the white skirt)

This “double” marking is just how Swedish handles definiteness in such noun phrases.

Why are the adjectives vita and svarta with -a endings here?

In the sentence:

den vita kjolen – the white skirt
den svarta (kjolen) – the black (skirt)

Both vit and svart appear as vita / svarta because:

The noun phrase is definite (“the white skirt”, “the black one”).
There is a den before the noun, and an adjective in front of the definite noun.

In this situation, Swedish adjectives take the definite form, which is usually -a:

Indefinite, common gender (en-word):
- en vit kjol – a white skirt
- en svart kjol – a black skirt
Definite with den:
- den vita kjolen – the white skirt
- den svarta kjolen – the black skirt

At the end of the sentence, den svarta has kjolen omitted, but grammar-wise it’s still den svarta (kjolen), so svart stays in the svarta form.

Why is it henne and not hon in passar henne?

Because henne is the object form of hon (“she”).

Swedish personal pronouns have subject and object forms:

hon – she (subject)
henne – her (object)

In your sentence:

den vita kjolen is the subject (the thing doing the “suiting”)
passar is the verb
henne is the object (the person who is being suited)

So:

Hon gillar den vita kjolen. – She likes the white skirt. (subject)
Den vita kjolen passar henne. – The white skirt suits her. (object)

Using hon after passar would be ungrammatical here.

Does passar here mean “fits” or “suits”? What exactly does passa mean in this context?

In den vita kjolen passar henne, passar means “suits” / “looks good on” her.

The verb passa is quite flexible:

passa någon (clothes, style):
- Den vita kjolen passar henne.
- The white skirt suits / looks good on her.
- It can also imply “fits her (size-wise)” from context, but often it’s more about style/appearance.
passa (för någon) – be suitable/appropriate:
- Det jobbet passar henne. – That job suits her / is suitable for her.
Other meanings (not relevant here, but common):
- passa på – to take the chance
- passa barn – to look after children
- passa bollen – to pass the ball (sports)

In your sentence, learners should understand passar henne as “suits her / looks good on her”.

Why is it bättre and not something like mer bra?

bättre is the standard comparative form of bra (“good”):

bra – good
bättre – better
bäst – best

Just like in English we say “good, better, best” rather than “good, more good, most good”, in Swedish we say:

bra, bättre, bäst, not bra, mer bra, mest bra.

So:

Den vita kjolen är bra, men den svarta är bättre.
The white skirt is good, but the black one is better.

In your sentence, passar henne bättre = “suits her better”.

Is bättre here an adjective or an adverb?

Functionally, it’s behaving like an adverb modifying the verb passar:

den vita kjolen passar henne bättre
“the white skirt suits her better”

However, bättre is the comparative form of bra, and bra is both:

an adjective: en bra bok – a good book
an adverb: Det går bra. – It goes well.

Similarly, bättre can be used:

As an adjective:
- en bättre bok – a better book
As an adverb:
- Hon sjunger bättre nu. – She sings better now.

In your sentence, it’s modifying how the skirt “suits” her, so it’s adverbial in use.

Why do we use än and not som after bättre?

In Swedish:

For comparisons of inequality (“more/less … than”), you normally use än:
- bättre än – better than
- större än – bigger than
- mindre än – smaller than
For comparisons of equality (“as … as”), you use som:
- lika bra som – as good as
- lika stor som – as big as

So in your sentence:

passar henne bättre än den svarta
= “suits her better than the black one”

Using som here (bättre som den svarta) would be wrong in standard Swedish.

Why can we say just den svarta at the end, without repeating kjolen?

This is an example of ellipsis: leaving out a word that is understood from context.

Full form:
- … bättre än den svarta kjolen. – better than the black skirt.
Shorter, natural form:
- … bättre än den svarta. – better than the black one.

Because we already mentioned kjolen earlier, Swedish allows you to omit it and keep:

the definite article den
the adjective svarta (in definite form)

This is very common in Swedish, just like in English when you say “the white skirt is nicer than the black one” rather than repeating “the black skirt”.

Can I change the word order to Den vita kjolen passar henne bättre än den svarta?

Yes, that word order is perfectly correct, and in fact it’s a natural answer sentence on its own:

Den vita kjolen passar henne bättre än den svarta.
- “The white skirt suits her better than the black one.”

In your full sentence:

Jag tycker att den vita kjolen passar henne bättre än den svarta.
- Main clause: Jag tycker (I think)
- Subordinate clause: att den vita kjolen passar henne bättre än den svarta
- Inside the subordinate clause, word order is:
  - Subject: den vita kjolen
  - Verb: passar
  - Object: henne
  - Adverb: bättre
  - Comparison phrase: än den svarta

This is normal Swedish S–V–O order inside the subordinate clause, just like in English: the white skirt suits her better than the black one.

Could I say Jag tror att den vita kjolen passar henne bättre instead of Jag tycker att …?

You can, and it’s grammatically correct, but it changes the nuance slightly.

Jag tycker att …
- Emphasizes a subjective opinion, often about taste, style, preferences.
- Very natural for clothes, design, food, etc.
- Jag tycker att den vita kjolen passar henne bättre.
  - “In my opinion, the white skirt suits her better.”
Jag tror att …
- Means “I think / I believe (that) …” more in the sense of a belief about facts, predictions, or something you’re not fully sure about.
- More like I believe this is true, not just this is my taste.
- Jag tror att tåget kommer snart. – I think (believe) the train will come soon.

In the context of fashion and style, tycker is the most idiomatic choice, because you’re expressing a personal taste-based opinion.