Learn Hardcore Swedish: Hon tycker att en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar, men hennes egen trend är vita skjortor. - She thinks a strong trend now is green skirts, but her own trend is white shirts.

tycker att + clause
- Means to think / to be of the opinion that.
- You must follow it with a full clause (subject + verb).
- Example:
  - Hon tycker att en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar.
    → “She thinks that a strong trend now is green skirts.”
tycker + (no “att”, no clause)
- Often used more loosely in speech, but normally you’d still expect some complement.
- By itself, Hon tycker is incomplete, like “She thinks…” with nothing after it.
tycker om + noun/verb
- Means to like.
- Example:
  - Hon tycker om gröna kjolar. → “She likes green skirts.”

So “tycker att” is correct here because it introduces a full statement: “a strong trend now is green skirts.”

What exactly does “att” do in the part “tycker att en stark trend nu är …”?

Att here is a subordinating conjunction, like “that” in English.

English: She thinks *that a strong trend now is green skirts…*
Swedish: Hon tycker *att en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar…*

It introduces a subordinate clause (a “that-clause”) which functions as the object of tycker:

Main clause: Hon tycker
Subordinate clause: (att) en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar

You normally must include att in standard written Swedish in this kind of sentence; dropping it (Hon tycker en stark trend nu är…) sounds wrong or very colloquial at best.

Why is the word order “en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar” and not “en stark trend är nu gröna kjolar” or “nu är en stark trend …”?

In the subordinate clause att en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar:

Subject: en stark trend
Time adverb: nu
Verb: är
Complement: gröna kjolar

In subordinate clauses, Swedish does not use the strict “verb in second position” rule like in main clauses. The default order is:

subject – (time adverb) – verb – other elements

So:

✔ att en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar (very natural)
✔ att en stark trend just nu är gröna kjolar (even more natural with just nu)
? att en stark trend är nu gröna kjolar – possible, but sounds a bit heavier/marked
? att nu en stark trend är gröna kjolar – unusual and awkward

You can move nu around a bit for emphasis, but subject before verb is the key pattern in subordinate clauses like this one.

Why is it “gröna kjolar” and not “grön kjol” or “gröna kjolarna”?

This is about plural and definiteness:

grön kjol = a green skirt (singular, indefinite)
gröna kjolar = green skirts (plural, indefinite)
de gröna kjolarna = the green skirts (plural, definite)

In the sentence:

… en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar

she’s talking about green skirts in general, not some specific, known set of skirts. In Swedish, that kind of general statement about “this is a trend” is usually indefinite plural:

Svarta jeans är populära. → “Black jeans are popular.”
Gröna kjolar är trendiga. → “Green skirts are trendy.”

So “gröna kjolar” (indefinite plural) fits the idea of a general fashion trend.

Why do the adjectives change form: stark trend, gröna kjolar, vita skjortor, egen trend?

Swedish adjectives agree with the noun’s gender, number, and definiteness.

Key patterns (indefinite forms):

En-words (common gender), singular:
- stark trend (en trend)
- egen trend (en trend)
Ett-words (neuter), singular:
- starkt hus (ett hus)
Plural (both genders):
- gröna kjolar (kjolar is plural)
- vita skjortor (skjortor is plural)

In plural indefinite, adjectives usually take ‑a:

grön kjol → gröna kjolar
vit skjorta → vita skjortor

And “egen” works the same way:

en egen trend
ett eget märke
egna trender (plural)

Why is it “hennes egen trend” and not “sin egen trend”?

This is about reflexive vs. non‑reflexive possessives:

sin/sitt/sina = her/his/their own referring back to the subject of the same clause.
hennes = her (someone else’s), not automatically the subject’s.

In your sentence:

Hon tycker att … men *hennes egen trend är vita skjortor.*

Swedish grammar would normally expect sin (reflexive) if the trend belongs to the same “she”:

Hon tycker att en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar, men sin egen trend är vita skjortor.
→ Clear: her own personal trend is white shirts.

Using hennes instead:

Strongly suggests we’re talking about another woman’s trend (someone else’s “her”), not the subject Hon.
Or it might be an attempt to emphasize “her own trend” in a nonstandard way, but grammatically it’s ambiguous or odd.

So, if the subject “Hon” is the one whose trend we mean, the most natural, unambiguous form is:

… men hennes egen trend → likely means another woman’s trend
… men sin egen trend → clearly means her own trend (the subject’s)

What does “egen” actually add in “hennes egen trend”?

Egen means “own” and adds emphasis that the trend is personally associated with her, not the general trend.

hennes trend → her trend
hennes egen trend → her own trend (her personal style)

So the contrast becomes clearer:

en stark trend nu → what’s generally trendy
hennes egen trend → what she personally prefers or follows, even if it differs from the general trend.

Is “trend” used the same way in Swedish as in English?

Mostly yes.

trend in Swedish = trend in English
It’s a common gender noun: en trend, trenden, trender, trenderna.

Meaning:

Fashion: En stark trend nu är gröna kjolar.
Statistics: Arbetslösheten visar en nedåtgående trend.

So here it’s used exactly like English fashion trend.

Why is there a comma before “men” in this sentence?

The sentence is:

Hon tycker att en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar, *men hennes egen trend är vita skjortor.*

You have two main clauses joined by men (“but”):

Hon tycker att en stark trend nu är gröna kjolar
hennes egen trend är vita skjortor

In modern Swedish punctuation, it is normal and recommended to put a comma between two independent clauses joined by men:

Jag vill gå ut, men det regnar.
Han tränar mycket, men hon vilar.

So the comma here is standard and directly parallels English usage.

How do you pronounce “kjolar” and “skjortor”? The spelling looks confusing.

Both words contain sounds that are tricky for learners:

kjolar (skirts)
- Singular: kjol
- kj‑ is usually pronounced with a “soft k” sound before front vowels (i, y, e, ä, ö), similar to “sh” in English “she,” but more fronted and hissy.
- IPA approx.: /ˈɕuːlar/
skjortor (shirts)
- Singular: skjorta
- skj‑ is pronounced with the “sj‑sound” /ɧ/, which has no exact English equivalent. It’s a kind of back fricative, often described as somewhere between “sh” and a throaty “h/ch”.
- IPA approx.: /ˈɧʊʈːor/

In practice:

kj → front “sh‑like” sound
skj → the typical Swedish sj‑sound /ɧ/

They look similar in spelling, but are pronounced differently.

Could you also say “just nu” or “nuförtiden” instead of “nu”? What’s the nuance?

Yes, and each has a slightly different feel:

nu = “now” (quite general)
- en stark trend nu → a strong trend now (at the present time)
just nu = “right now / at the moment” (more immediate)
- en stark trend just nu är gröna kjolar
- Emphasizes a current, perhaps short‑lived moment in time.
nuförtiden = “nowadays / these days” (longer period)
- En stark trend nuförtiden är gröna kjolar.
- Suggests a more stable, ongoing trend over the current era, not just this moment.

So nu is the broadest and most neutral; just nu is very “right this moment”; nuförtiden is “these days / nowadays.”