Breakdown of Hennes vän säger att den här klänningen är mer modern än den andra.
Questions & Answers about Hennes vän säger att den här klänningen är mer modern än den andra.
In Swedish, den / det must agree with the grammatical gender of the noun:
- en-words (common gender) → den
- ett-words (neuter) → det
Klänning is an en-word (en klänning), so you must use den:
- den här klänningen = this dress
If it were an ett-word, you’d say: - det här huset = this house (ett hus)
So det här klänningen is ungrammatical because klänning is not an ett-word.
Att is a conjunction meaning that here; it introduces a subordinate clause, just like in English:
- Hennes vän säger att den här klänningen är mer modern…
= Her friend says that this dress is more modern…
You cannot leave att out in standard Swedish the way you often can drop that in English:
- English: Her friend says this dress is more modern… ✅
- Swedish: Hennes vän säger den här klänningen är mer modern… ❌ (wrong)
In written and careful spoken Swedish, you should keep att in sentences like this.
Swedish has a special word order rule (V2) in main clauses: the verb usually comes in the second position.
- Main clause: Den här klänningen är mer modern.
(Subject first, verb second.)
After a conjunction like att, you get a subordinate clause, and the verb no longer has to be in second position. The normal order is:
subject → verb → rest
So:
- att den här klänningen är mer modern ✅
subject = den här klänningen, verb = är
You would not invert it here:
- att är den här klänningen mer modern ❌ (wrong in this context)
Many adjectives in Swedish can form the comparative in two ways:
- With -are: modern → modernare
- With mer: modern → mer modern
Both mer modern and modernare are grammatically correct, and both are used:
- Den här klänningen är mer modern.
- Den här klänningen är modernare.
For many adjectives that are longer or borrowed from other languages (like modern from French/Latin), mer + adjective is very common and often feels a bit more natural, but usage varies, and both forms are accepted.
Yes, you can:
- Den här klänningen är mer modern än den andra.
- Den här klänningen är modernare än den andra.
Both mean exactly the same: This dress is more modern than the other (one).
Any difference is mainly about style and personal preference. Some speakers might feel mer modern sounds slightly more natural or neutral, but modernare is also fine.
Än is the word used after a comparative to mean than:
- mer modern än = more modern than
- större än = bigger than
- bättre än = better than
Ännu is different; it means still / yet / even depending on context:
- ännu modernare = even more modern
- Hon är ännu inte hemma. = She is not home yet.
So here you must use än:
mer modern än den andra = more modern than the other one.
Swedish, like English, often leaves out the noun when it’s clear from context. In English you say:
- this dress is more modern than the other (one)
You don’t need to repeat dress.
Swedish does the same:
- den här klänningen = this dress
- den andra (klänningen) = the other (dress)
The second klänningen is understood and therefore omitted. You could say den andra klänningen, but it sounds a bit heavier and is not necessary when the meaning is obvious.
Both come from the same root but are used differently:
- annan = other (indefinite)
- en annan klänning = another/other dress
- andra = the other, the second (often definite or plural)
- den andra klänningen = the other dress / the second dress
- de andra klänningarna = the other dresses
In the sentence, we are contrasting this dress with the other one:
- den här klänningen ↔ den andra (klänningen)
So andra is the correct form, agreeing with den (definite singular).
Swedish distinguishes between hennes/hans and sin/sitt/sina:
- hennes / hans = her / his (non-reflexive, someone else)
- sin / sitt / sina = her / his own (reflexive, refers back to the subject of the same clause)
In your sentence:
- Hennes vän säger att den här klänningen…
The subject of the sentence is vän. The possessor is hennes = her.
So this means: Her friend says… (the friend belongs to some woman mentioned in context).
You would use sin vän only if the subject of that same clause were the same person owning the friend. For example:
- Hon ringer sin vän. = She calls her own friend.
- Hon ringer hennes vän. = She calls her (another woman’s) friend.
In Hennes vän säger…, the subject is not hon, so sin cannot be used; hennes is correct.
Vän is gender-neutral and literally means friend. It does not say anything about:
- the friend’s gender, or
- whether the relationship is romantic.
If you want to specify a romantic partner, you usually say:
- pojkvän = boyfriend
- flickvän = girlfriend
- partner = partner (gender-neutral, often used for romantic partners)
So Hennes vän just means her friend, without extra implications.
Yes, you can:
- den här klänningen = this dress
- denna klänning = this dress (more formal/written style)
Both are correct. Differences:
- den här + noun is the most common in everyday speech.
- denna + noun feels more formal, old-fashioned, or written (ads, literature, official texts).
So:
- Den här klänningen är mer modern än den andra. (neutral, everyday)
- Denna klänning är mer modern än den andra. (more formal/literary)