Learn Hardcore Swedish: Min syster gillar mode men vill inte följa varje ny trend, utan hitta sin egen stil. - My sister likes fashion but does not want to follow every new trend, but rather find her own style.

gillar is a bit more direct and slightly more informal. It’s often used for:
- interests and hobbies: Jag gillar mode. (“I like fashion.”)
- people and things in a simple way: Jag gillar henne.
tycker om is slightly more neutral and can sound a bit softer:
- Jag tycker om mode.
- Jag tycker om min lärare.

In this sentence, Min syster gillar mode is very natural and maybe a touch more casual. Min syster tycker om mode would also be correct and acceptable; the meaning is essentially the same here.

Why is it vill inte följa and not inte vill följa?

In Swedish main clauses, the normal word order is:

Subject – Verb – (Negation / Sentence adverb) – Object …

So:

Min syster (subject)
vill (finite verb)
inte (negation)
följa varje ny trend (infinitive + object)

Min syster vill inte följa … follows that standard order.
Putting inte before vill (for example Min syster inte vill följa …) is incorrect in a main clause; that word order only appears in certain subordinate clauses.

Why is there a comma before utan, and what is the difference between men and utan?

Utan is a special kind of “but” that means “but rather / but instead.” It’s used when:

You have a negation in the first part:
- … vill inte följa varje ny trend, utan hitta sin egen stil.
  = “does not want to follow every new trend, but rather find her own style.”
The second part presents an alternative or correction to the first.

Compare:

Jag dricker inte kaffe, utan te.
“I don’t drink coffee, but (rather) tea.”

If you used men there, it would sound off:

Jag dricker inte kaffe, men te. ❌ (wrong)

The comma before utan is standard in writing when contrasting two clauses or phrases like this. It separates:

Clause 1: … vill inte följa varje ny trend
Clause 2: utan hitta sin egen stil

Why isn’t there att before följa or hitta? In English we use “to follow, to find.”

Swedish uses att in front of infinitives in some situations, but not after certain modal verbs, such as vill (“want to”), kan (“can”), måste (“must”), etc.

After vill you normally do not use att:
- Jag vill följa trenden. (not vill att följa)
- Min syster vill inte följa …

In your sentence, vill also governs hitta:

Understood structure: … vill inte följa … utan (vill) hitta sin egen stil.
The second vill is omitted, so att still does not appear.

You could say utan att hitta but that would change the meaning to “without finding,” not “but rather to find.” So here utan hitta is correct.

Why is there no second vill before hitta? Why not … utan vill hitta sin egen stil?

You can say … utan vill hitta sin egen stil, and it’s correct. But Swedish often omits repeated verbs in coordinated structures when the meaning is clear.

Underlying structure:

Min syster vill inte följa varje ny trend, utan vill hitta sin egen stil.

Because vill is already stated once and governs both infinitives (följa and hitta), it’s natural to drop the second vill:

… vill inte följa …, utan hitta sin egen stil.

This makes the sentence smoother and less repetitive, and native speakers do this very often.

Why is it varje ny trend and not varje trend ny? And why is there no article?

Two points:

Word order of adjective + noun
- In Swedish, adjectives normally come before the noun:
  - en ny trend – “a new trend”
- When you add varje (“every”), it goes at the very beginning:
  - varje ny trend – “every new trend”
- You cannot say varje trend ny in this meaning; that would be ungrammatical.
No article with “varje”
- Words like varje (“every/each”) replace an article:
  - en trend – “a trend”
  - varje trend – “every trend” (no en)
- So:
  - varje ny trend, not varje en ny trend nor den varje nya trend.

Why is it sin egen stil and not hennes egen stil?

Swedish distinguishes between sin/sitt/sina and hans/hennes:

sin / sitt / sina = reflexive possessive (“his/her own” referring back to the subject of the clause).
hennes = her (not necessarily the subject’s).

Here, the subject is Min syster, and the style belongs to her (the same person), so Swedish uses the reflexive form:

Min syster … vill … hitta sin egen stil. = “My sister wants to find her (own) style” (her own style, i.e., my sister’s style).

If you said hennes egen stil, it would usually be understood as:

“My sister wants to find her (some other woman’s) own style.”

So sin is required to show it belongs to the subject Min syster.

What does egen add to the meaning in sin egen stil, and why is it in the middle?

Egen means “own”, emphasizing that it’s her own individual style, not just any style or someone else’s.

sin stil = “her style” (neutral)
sin egen stil = “her own style” (with emphasis on personal, unique style)

Word order:

Possessive → egen → noun:
- min egen bil – my own car
- hans egna idéer – his own ideas
- sin egen stil – her own style

So egen naturally sits between the possessive (sin) and the noun (stil).

Why is it gillar mode without an article? Is mode countable in Swedish?

Mode in Swedish (like “fashion” in English) is usually used as an uncountable noun when talking about fashion in general.

Jag gillar mode.
= “I like fashion (as a concept).”
No article is needed, just like English “I like fashion,” not I like the fashion (in a general sense).

If you say modet (“the fashion”), you usually mean a specific style or current fashion:

Jag gillar inte modet i år.
“I don’t like the fashion this year.”

In your sentence, it’s about fashion as an interest in general, so gillar mode without an article is correct.

Can the order of the two ideas be switched, like: Min syster vill inte följa varje ny trend, men gillar mode? Does that change the meaning?

You can say:

Min syster vill inte följa varje ny trend, men gillar mode.

This is grammatically correct and quite natural. It slightly changes the focus and the type of contrast:

Original:
Min syster gillar mode men vill inte följa varje ny trend, utan hitta sin egen stil.
Focus: She likes fashion, but rather than following every new trend, she wants to find her own style.
Alternative with “men”:
Min syster vill inte följa varje ny trend, men gillar mode.
Focus: Even though she doesn’t want to follow every new trend, that doesn’t mean she dislikes fashion.

Also, utan in the original adds the sense of “but instead / but rather”, while men is a more neutral “but” that doesn’t automatically introduce an alternative like “instead.”