Breakdown of Hon känner sig ful i den gamla kostymen, men hennes stil är ändå stark.
Questions & Answers about Hon känner sig ful i den gamla kostymen, men hennes stil är ändå stark.
In Swedish, when you talk about feeling a certain way (with an adjective), you normally use the reflexive verb känna sig:
- känna sig + adjective = to feel + adjective
- Hon känner sig ful. – She feels ugly.
- Jag känner mig trött. – I feel tired.
Without sig, känna usually means to feel/sense something (often with a noun as object):
- Jag känner smärta. – I feel pain.
- Jag känner värmen. – I feel the heat.
- Jag känner henne. – I know her (am acquainted with her).
So:
- känna sig ful = to feel ugly
- känna ful – ungrammatical; the verb is missing its needed reflexive pronoun here.
Sig shows that the subject is experiencing the feeling about herself:
- Hon känner sig ful.
Literally: She feels herself ugly → She feels ugly.
In Swedish, reflexive pronouns change with person:
- Jag känner mig… – I feel…
- Du känner dig… – You feel…
- Han/hon känner sig… – He/she feels…
- Vi känner oss… – We feel…
- Ni känner er… – You (pl.) feel…
- De känner sig… – They feel…
In this sentence, sig refers back to hon (she). You cannot drop it; känner ful is wrong.
Here ful is a predicative adjective (it comes after the verb and describes the subject), and in that position it normally takes the base form for singular common gender:
- Hon är ful. – She is ugly.
- Hon känner sig ful. – She feels ugly.
Compare with other forms of ful:
- en ful hund – an ugly dog (singular, common gender)
- ett fult hus – an ugly house (singular, neuter)
- fula hundar – ugly dogs (plural)
- den fula hunden – the ugly dog (definite)
But in predicative position, singular takes the simple form:
- Hunden är ful. – The dog is ugly.
- Huset är fult. – The house is ugly.
- Hundarna är fula. – The dogs are ugly.
So:
- Subject hon → singular, common gender → ful.
- Plural subject would give: De känner sig fula. – They feel ugly.
Swedish typically uses i with clothes to mean “in” the clothing / wearing it:
- Hon känner sig ful i den gamla kostymen.
– She feels ugly in the old suit/costume. - Han ser bra ut i den där jackan.
– He looks good in that jacket.
The preposition med (“with”) can also appear with clothes, but it focuses more on having/using them, not just wearing:
- Hon kom med en stor hatt. – She arrived with a big hat (she had it with her / on her).
In this sentence, we’re talking about how she feels while wearing the clothing, so i is the natural choice.
Yes, this is the famous Swedish “double definiteness” rule.
When a definite noun has an adjective in front of it, you must:
- Use a definite article (den / det / de)
- Keep the definite ending on the noun (-en / -et / -na)
So:
- kostym – a suit / costume
- kostymen – the suit / costume
- den gamla kostymen – the old suit/costume
Structure:
- den (definite article for en-words)
- gamla (adjective, definite form)
- kostymen (noun with definite ending -en)
More examples:
- ett hus – a house
- huset – the house
det stora huset – the big house
- böcker – books
- böckerna – the books
- de intressanta böckerna – the interesting books
So having both den and -en is exactly what Swedish requires in this pattern.
Kostym is an en-word (common gender):
- en kostym – a suit/costume
- kostymen – the suit/costume
Because it’s an en-word, you use:
- den as the definite article with an adjective: den gamla kostymen
- -en as the definite ending: kostym + en
If it were an ett-word, it would look like:
- ett plagg – a garment
- plagget – the garment
- det gamla plagget – the old garment
So in the sentence, den gamla kostymen follows the rules for an en-noun.
Yes, both are possible, but they mean slightly different things.
- den gamla kostymen – the old suit/costume (a specific one already known from context; not necessarily hers)
- sin gamla kostym – her own old suit/costume (reflexive: belonging to the subject)
The reflexive possessive sin refers back to the subject hon:
- Hon känner sig ful i sin gamla kostym.
– She feels ugly in her (own) old suit.
Compare:
- Hon känner sig ful i hennes gamla kostym.
This usually means: She feels ugly in *another woman’s old suit* (someone else’s, previously mentioned).
So:
- Use sin/sitt/sina when the owner is the subject of the clause.
- Use hennes when the owner is some other “she” (not the subject) or when there is no such ambiguity.
In the original sentence, den gamla kostymen just points to a specific old costume, without explicitly stating whose it is.
These are three different pronouns:
hon – subject form (she)
- Hon känner sig ful. – She feels ugly.
henne – object form (her)
- Jag ser henne. – I see her.
- Jag gav henne kostymen. – I gave her the suit.
hennes – possessive (her / hers)
- hennes stil – her style
- Det är hennes kostym. – It’s her suit.
In the sentence:
- Hon is the subject of the first clause.
- hennes shows possession: her style in the second clause (hennes stil).
We don’t need henne because there is no object “her” in this sentence.
Swedish main clauses follow a verb-second (V2) rule: the finite verb (here är) normally comes in second position in the clause.
In men hennes stil är ändå stark:
- hennes stil – first position (subject phrase)
- är – second position (finite verb)
- ändå – adverb
- stark – adjective
So the order is correct: subject → verb → (adverb) → complement.
The version men hennes stil ändå är stark breaks this V2 pattern by putting ändå before är, which is not standard in a neutral statement.
You can move ändå around somewhat, but the finite verb should stay in second position in a normal main clause:
- Men hennes stil är ändå stark. – neutral, correct
- Men ändå är hennes stil stark. – also correct (here ändå is in first position, so är stays second)
Ändå is an adverb that often corresponds to “still”, “nevertheless”, “anyway”, “even so”.
In this sentence:
- …men hennes stil är ändå stark.
– …but her style is still strong / nevertheless strong.
It signals a contrast with the first clause:
- She feels ugly in the old costume (negative)
- but her style is still / nevertheless strong (positive)
You’ll often see ändå in the middle field of the sentence, after the verb or after the subject:
- Hon är ändå snygg. – She’s still good-looking / She’s good-looking anyway.
- De kom ändå. – They came anyway.
Placement can shift for emphasis, but it usually won’t go before the finite verb in a simple main clause (because of the V2 rule), unless ändå is in the very first position:
- Ändå är hon snygg. – Still, she is good-looking.
Yes. stark literally means “strong”, but it’s also used metaphorically, much like in English.
hennes stil är stark suggests that:
- her style is distinct, powerful, clear, or confident
- she has a strong personal expression, even if she feels ugly in that particular outfit
Comparable expressions:
- en stark personlighet – a strong personality
- ett starkt visuellt uttryck – a strong visual expression
- ett starkt varumärke – a strong brand
So stark stil is natural Swedish for a bold / powerful / striking style.
Kostym can mean both, depending on context:
Suit (men’s or women’s, formal wear)
- en kostym – a (business) suit
- Han har på sig kostym idag. – He’s wearing a suit today.
Costume (theatre, fancy dress, stage costume)
- scenkostym – stage costume
- Halloween-kostym – Halloween costume
In this specific sentence, without more context, it could be understood as either an old suit or an old costume. A teacher or text usually clarifies the intended meaning in advance (you said the meaning is already shown).
No. In Swedish, you cannot omit är in this kind of sentence.
You must have the verb “to be”:
- hennes stil är stark – her style is strong
- hennes stil är ändå stark – her style is still/anyway strong
Leaving out är (hennes stil ändå stark) is ungrammatical in standard Swedish. The copula verb (är) is required in these predicative constructions.