Learn Hardcore Swedish: Till slut bestämmer hon sig för en enkel vit skjorta, eftersom det känns mest som hennes stil. - In the end she decides on a simple white shirt, because it feels most like her style.

bestämma (without sig) = to decide something / to determine something
- Läraren bestämmer reglerna. = The teacher decides the rules.
bestämma sig (with sig) = to decide, to make up one’s mind (for oneself)
- Hon bestämmer sig. = She makes up her mind / She decides.

In your sentence, she is deciding what she herself will choose, so Swedish uses the reflexive form:

Till slut bestämmer hon sig för en enkel vit skjorta …
= In the end she decides on a simple white shirt …

If you said Till slut bestämmer hon en enkel vit skjorta, it would sound like she is deciding the shirt itself (unidiomatic and wrong in this context).

Why do we need för after bestämmer sig (bestämmer hon sig för en enkel vit skjorta)?

The verb bestämma sig normally takes the preposition för when you say what you decide on:

bestämma sig för något = to decide on something
bestämma sig för att göra något = to decide to do something

Examples:

Hon bestämmer sig för en skjorta.
She decides on a shirt.
Hon bestämmer sig för att köpa skjortan.
She decides to buy the shirt.

Using att directly after bestämma sig (✗ bestämma sig att göra något) is wrong in standard Swedish; you need för att.

So bestämmer hon sig för en enkel vit skjorta is the correct pattern:
bestämma sig + för + [choice].

Why does the sentence start with Till slut? Could we also say Hon bestämmer sig till slut?

Both orders are possible and correct, but with a slight difference in feel:

Till slut bestämmer hon sig för en enkel vit skjorta …
- Fronts Till slut for emphasis: Finally / In the end, that’s the key frame for what happens.
- Very natural in written and spoken Swedish.
Hon bestämmer sig till slut för en enkel vit skjorta …
- Keeps the subject hon first, so it sounds a bit more neutral.
- Also common in speech.

So:

Till slut bestämmer hon sig … = stylistically a bit more narrative/story-like.
Hon bestämmer sig till slut … = perfectly fine, slightly more “flat” in tone.

Word order here is flexible; meaning stays the same.

Why is it en enkel vit skjorta and not en vit enkel skjorta?

Swedish, like English, usually follows a certain order for multiple adjectives. A common guideline:

Opinion/character/quality
Size
Age
Shape
Color
Material, etc.

In en enkel vit skjorta:

enkel = simple/plain → opinion/character
vit = white → color

So enkel naturally comes before vit, just like a simple white shirt in English.

You can say en vit enkel skjorta, but it sounds slightly marked or unusual. It might be understood as stressing “white” first, or it may just sound a bit off to many native speakers. The default, natural order is en enkel vit skjorta.

What exactly does Till slut mean, and how is it different from Slutligen or Till sist?

All three can often be translated as finally / in the end, but their usage differs slightly:

Till slut
- Very common in everyday speech and writing.
- Neutral, narrative: tells us what eventually happened.
- Works perfectly in your sentence.
Till sist
- Very close in meaning to Till slut, also common.
- Many speakers use them almost interchangeably.
Slutligen
- More formal and often used in structured texts or speeches (like “Finally, I would like to say…”).
- Less conversational.

In your sentence, Till slut or Till sist both feel natural. Slutligen would sound a bit more formal or rhetorical.

Why is there a comma before eftersom?

Eftersom introduces a subordinate clause (a “because”-clause):

eftersom det känns mest som hennes stil

In Swedish, adding a comma before many subordinate clauses is common and stylistically normal, especially when the clause clearly gives a reason or explanation.

So both of these are acceptable:

Till slut bestämmer hon sig för en enkel vit skjorta, eftersom det känns mest som hennes stil.
Till slut bestämmer hon sig för en enkel vit skjorta eftersom det känns mest som hennes stil.

The version with a comma separates the main action from the reason slightly more clearly. Many writers prefer the comma in this specific pattern: [main clause], eftersom [reason].

Why is eftersom used here and not för att or därför att?

In this sentence, eftersom means because, introducing a reason:

… eftersom det känns mest som hennes stil.
= because it feels most like her style.

Contrast:

eftersom = because (states a cause or reason)
därför att = also because, but more explicit/emphatic and often used after därför:
- Hon valde skjortan därför att det kändes som hennes stil.
för att mainly = in order to (purpose), not because:
- Hon köper skjortan för att ha den på festen.
  She buys the shirt in order to wear it to the party.

Using för att here would change the meaning to a purpose idea (in order to make it feel like her style), which is not intended. Eftersom is the natural choice for a reason.

Why does the sentence use det känns instead of something like hon känner?

Swedish often uses an impersonal construction with det (“it”):

det känns = it feels (lit.), it feels [in this way]

In this case:

eftersom det känns mest som hennes stil
= because it feels most like her style

This is about the situation or the choice feeling like her style, not about her physical or emotional state.

Compare:

Det känns konstigt. = It feels strange.
Det känns rätt. = It feels right.
Det känns som hemma. = It feels like home.

Hon känner is more like “she feels” (emotionally or physically):

Hon känner sig trött. = She feels tired.
Hon känner sorg. = She feels sorrow.

Here we’re evaluating the choice, so Swedish uses det känns.

What does mest add here? How is it different from mer?

Mer and mest are the comparative and superlative forms of mycket (much/a lot) and många (many), and are also used for adverbs:

mer = more
mest = most

In the sentence:

det känns mest som hennes stil
= it feels most like her style

This implies she maybe had several options, but this one fits her style best of all.

If you said:

det känns mer som hennes stil
= it feels more like her style

that would be a comparison with something else (e.g., another shirt), but not necessarily the best of all options. Mest here expresses the strongest degree.

Why is it hennes stil and not sin stil or hon stil?

Three separate points:

Hon vs hennes
- hon = she (subject pronoun)
- hennes = her (possessive pronoun, not reflexive)
  You cannot say ✗ hon stil; you need the possessive: hennes stil.
Why not sin stil?
Sin/sitt/sina is the reflexive possessive and refers back to the subject of the same clause.
In eftersom det känns mest som hennes stil:
- The grammatical subject of the clause is det, not hon.
- So if you used sin, it would refer back to det, which makes no sense.
- Therefore, you must use hennes, not sin.
When would sin be used?
Example:
- Hon gillar sin stil. = She likes her (own) style.
  Here hon is the subject, so sin can refer back to hon.

In your sentence, the subject is det, so hennes is the only correct choice.

Why is it hennes and not sin even though we know it’s “her” style?

This is about clause structure, not just meaning.

The subordinate clause is: eftersom det känns mest som hennes stil.
The subject is det.
The possessive that refers to the subject of the same clause must use sin/sitt/sina.
But here we want to refer to hon from the previous clause, not det.

Since hon is not the subject inside this clause, sin cannot refer to her here. Instead, Swedish uses the non-reflexive possessive hennes to point to a third person (her) who is not the subject of this clause.

So even though we logically know it is her style, grammatically sin would attach to det, which is wrong; hennes is therefore correct.

Why is it en skjorta and not ett skjorta?

Swedish nouns belong to two genders:

en-words (common gender)
ett-words (neuter)

The word skjorta is an en-word, so it takes en:

en skjorta = a shirt
skjortan = the shirt

There is no rule that lets you deduce the gender from the ending -a in general; you typically have to learn each noun’s gender. Many, but not all, words ending in -a are en-words (e.g., en kappa, en flicka, en cykla (dialect), etc.).

So en enkel vit skjorta is correct; ✗ ett skjorta is ungrammatical.

Could we leave out enkel or vit, or change their order, without making the sentence ungrammatical?

Grammatically:

Till slut bestämmer hon sig för en vit skjorta …
Till slut bestämmer hon sig för en enkel skjorta …

Both are completely correct; you simply lose one of the descriptive details.

Changing the order:

Till slut bestämmer hon sig för en vit enkel skjorta …

This is technically grammatical (adjectives + noun are allowed), but it sounds less natural. Native speakers strongly prefer:

en enkel vit skjorta

because it follows the usual adjective order (opinion/quality before color). The “wrong” order won’t confuse people, but it will sound off or marked.