Learn Hardcore Swedish: Filmen var mindre spännande än boken, men barnen gillade den ändå. - The movie was less exciting than the book, but the children liked it anyway.

In Swedish, when you make a comparison with a comparative word like mindre (less), större (bigger), bättre (better), you normally use än to introduce the thing you compare with.

Filmen var mindre spännande än boken.
= The movie was less exciting than the book.

Using som here would be ungrammatical.
Som is used in comparisons of equality, like:

Filmen var lika spännande som boken.
The movie was as exciting as the book.

What exactly does mindre mean here, and where does it go in the sentence?

Mindre is the comparative form of liten (small) or lite (a little), but it is also used in the sense of “less” with adjectives:

spännande = exciting
mindre spännande = less exciting

In Swedish, the comparative usually comes before the adjective it modifies, like in English:

mindre spännande (less exciting)
mer intressant (more interesting)
större hus (bigger house)

Why is it spännande and not something like spännande*‑t or spännande*‑n?

Spännande is an adjective that has the same form for:

common gender (en-words): en spännande film
neuter gender (ett-words): ett spännande spel
plural: spännande filmer
definite forms: den spännande filmen, de spännande filmerna

So it does not change its ending for gender, number, or definiteness. That’s why in Filmen var mindre spännande, spännande just stays in its base form.

Why is it filmen, boken, barnen with -en at the end?

Swedish usually forms the definite (the …) by adding an ending:

film → filmen (the movie/film)
bok → boken (the book)
barn → barnen (the children)

Here:

Filmen = the movie
boken = the book
barnen = the children

So the sentence talks about specific, known things: the film, the book, the children.

Why is it den and not det in barnen gillade den ändå?

Den and det are third-person singular pronouns meaning “it”, but they agree with the gender of the noun:

den refers to a common gender (en‑word) noun
det refers to a neuter (ett‑word) noun

Film is an en-word: en film
So the pronoun referring back to filmen is den:

Filmen var mindre spännande än boken, men barnen gillade den ändå.
The movie was less exciting than the book, but the children liked it anyway.

If the noun had been neuter (e.g. ett spel – a game), you would use det:

Spelet var tråkigt, men barnen gillade det ändå.

What does ändå mean here, and where can it go in the sentence?

Ändå here means “anyway”, “still”, or “nevertheless”.

…men barnen gillade den ändå.
= …but the children liked it anyway.

It’s an adverb, and in this kind of sentence it’s very natural at the end:

Barnen gillade den ändå.

You can sometimes move it, but the end position is the most neutral and common here. Other positions, like Barnen gillade ändå den, sound unusual or would need a different emphasis/context.

Why is it men and not och before barnen gillade den ändå?

Men means “but”, and it introduces a contrast:

The movie was less exciting → but the children liked it anyway.

If you used och (and), it would simply add information without contrast:

Filmen var mindre spännande än boken, och barnen gillade den.
This sounds more like: The movie was less exciting than the book, and the children liked it.
(No clear “surprise” or “in spite of that” feeling.)

With men, you get the idea: even though it was less exciting, they liked it.

How does the verb var work here?

Var is the past tense of är (to be):

är = am / are / is
var = was / were

So:

Filmen var mindre spännande…
= The movie was less exciting…

Just like English “was”, it’s used for singular subjects in past tense, but Swedish uses var for both singular and plural:

Filmen var bra. – The movie was good.
Filmerna var bra. – The movies were good.

What tense is gillade, and how is it formed?

Gillade is past tense (preterite) of gilla (to like).

For many verbs ending in ‑a in the infinitive (like gilla, tala, vakna), the simple past is formed by adding ‑de:

gilla → gillade (liked)
tala → talade (spoke)
vakna → vaknade (woke up)

So:

Barnen gillade den ändå.
= The children liked it anyway.

Why is it barnen gillade den and not something like “barnen den gillade”? What’s the word order?

In a normal main clause with a simple subject–verb structure, Swedish word order is:

Subject – Verb – Object

So:

Barnen (subject)
gillade (verb)
den (object)

→ Barnen gillade den = The children liked it.

This is similar to English. You wouldn’t normally put the object den before the verb in this neutral statement.