Hon känner sig trygg hemma.

at home

Breakdown of Hon känner sig trygg hemma.

• hon: she
• känna: to feel
• sig: herself

Questions & Answers about Hon känner sig trygg hemma.

Why do we say känner sig and not just känner in Hon känner sig trygg hemma?

In Swedish, when you talk about how someone feels (an inner state), you normally use the reflexive verb känna sig + an adjective:

• Hon känner sig trygg. = She feels safe.
• Jag känner mig trött. = I feel tired.

If you say just känner, it usually means to feel (touch) or to know (a person/place):

• Hon känner bordet. = She feels (touches) the table.
• Hon känner honom. = She knows him (is acquainted with him).

So without sig, känner does not mean feels (emotion/state). You need sig to mean feels herself in an emotional/mental/physical state.

What exactly does sig mean here? Is it like herself in English?

Yes, sig is a reflexive pronoun, and it corresponds roughly to himself / herself / itself / themselves in English.

• Hon känner sig trygg. = She feels herself safe → She feels safe.
• Han skadar sig. = He hurts himself.
• De tvättar sig. = They wash themselves.

In this sentence, sig doesn’t add extra emphasis like English herself sometimes does; it is simply required by the verb känna sig to create the meaning to feel (a certain way).