Learn Hardcore Swedish: Jag var mer stressad förut.

Jag var mer stressad förut.
Literally: I was more stressed before / earlier.
This is a simple past description of a state at an earlier time. It doesn’t say anything about a result now; it just contrasts past you with present you.
Jag har varit mer stressad förut.
Literally: I have been more stressed before.
This focuses on your experience at unspecified times in the past (“at some point(s) before now”), and is closer to English “I’ve been more stressed before.”

In most everyday conversations about how you used to be compared to now, “Jag var mer stressad förut” is perfectly natural and probably the default.

Why do we say "mer stressad" instead of making a single comparative word like "stressigare"?

In Swedish, adjectives can make the comparative either:

By adding -are:
- glad → gladare (happy → happier)
- lugn → lugnare (calm → calmer)
Or by using mer before the adjective:
- intresserad → mer intresserad (interested → more interested)
- stressad → mer stressad (stressed → more stressed)

General tendencies:

Short, simple adjectives often take -are.
Longer adjectives, especially those ending in -ad, -ig, -isk, and many participles, prefer mer.

Stressad (from the verb stressa) normally uses mer:

mer stressad sounds natural and standard.
stressigare exists, but it usually means “more stressful” (describing something, not a person’s feeling), and it sounds more colloquial/creative.

So to describe how you feel, “mer stressad” is the normal choice.

What exactly does "förut" mean here, and how is it different from "tidigare", "förr" or "innan"?

In this sentence, förut means “before / earlier (in the past, compared to now)”.

Rough comparisons:

förut
Very common in speech. Vague “earlier than now,” often about a previous period in your life.
- Jag var mer stressad förut. = I used to be more stressed (than I am now).
tidigare
A bit more formal/neutral. Often used when you’ve already talked about specific times or events.
- Jag var mer stressad tidigare. (Very similar meaning; stylistically a bit more “written”.)
förr
Feels a bit more “back in the old days / in the past in general.”
- Jag var mer stressad förr. = I was more stressed in the past (kind of generally, earlier in life).
innan
Means “before” in the sense of before something else happens/happened. It usually needs a reference point.
- Jag var mer stressad innan jag bytte jobb.
  = I was more stressed before I changed jobs.

In your sentence, förut is a natural, everyday choice to contrast the past with now, without specifying exactly when.

Does "Jag var mer stressad förut" mean “I used to be more stressed” in a habitual way, like English “used to”?

Yes, that’s a good way to understand it in this context.

Swedish doesn’t have a direct equivalent of English “used to”, so it often uses:

simple past (preteritum): Jag var, jag jobbade, jag bodde
adverbs like förut, tidigare, förr to signal “back then / earlier”.

So:

Jag var mer stressad förut.
≈ I used to be more stressed (than I am now).

If you really want to emphasize a habitual or repeated state, you can add context:

Jag brukade vara mer stressad förut.
= I used to be more stressed before. (Even more explicitly habitual.)

But in ordinary conversation, “Jag var mer stressad förut” is usually enough to give the “used to” feeling.

What’s the difference between "Jag var mer stressad förut" and "Jag var stressad förut"?

Jag var stressad förut.
= I was stressed before / earlier.
This simply says you were stressed at some earlier time (or period).
Jag var mer stressad förut.
= I was more stressed before / earlier.
This is a comparison:
- more stressed than now, or
- more stressed than at some other time (if the context is clear).

Often, the second part of the comparison is just understood, e.g.:

Jag var mer stressad förut (än nu). → “…than now.” (the än nu is omitted)

Where can "förut" go in the sentence? Is "Jag var mer stressad förut" the only correct word order?

The most natural order here is exactly what you have:

Jag var mer stressad förut.

You can move förut, but it changes emphasis or sounds less natural:

Förut var jag mer stressad.
Also correct. Emphasizes the “before” more strongly (topic fronting). It might be used if the conversation is already about “how things were before.”
Jag var förut mer stressad.
Grammatically possible, but sounds stiff and unusual in everyday speech.

So:

Best neutral choice: Jag var mer stressad förut.
Alternative with stronger focus on the earlier time: Förut var jag mer stressad.

Is "stressad" an adjective or a past participle, and does it change form?

Stressad comes from the verb stressa (“to stress”) and functions as an adjective here, formed from a participle.

It behaves like a regular -ad adjective:

En stressad person (common gender, singular)
Ett stressat barn (neuter, singular)
Stressade människor (plural)

In your sentence:

Jag var mer stressad förut.
“Jag” is a person (common gender), so stressad is the right form.

Comparative:

mer stressad (more stressed)
Superlative:
mest stressad (most stressed)

So yes, it’s effectively used as an adjective here and it does change form depending on gender/number and degree (positive/ comparative/superlative).

What’s the difference between "stressad" and "stressig"/"stressigt"?

They’re related but not used the same way:

stressad = stressed (how a person feels)
- Jag är stressad. = I’m stressed.
- Han var mer stressad förut. = He used to be more stressed.
stressig / stressigt = stressful (describes something that causes stress)
- Ett stressigt jobb. = A stressful job.
- Dagen var väldigt stressig. = The day was very stressful.

So:

You say “jag är stressad” (I am stressed), not “jag är stressig”.
You say “ett stressigt jobb” (a stressful job), not “ett stressat jobb”.

Your sentence correctly uses stressad, because it’s about how you felt, not about how stressful a situation was.

In English we sometimes drop the subject (“Am more stressed now” is wrong, but in other languages you can drop “I”). Can you drop "jag" in Swedish and just say "Var mer stressad förut"?

No. Swedish almost always requires an explicit subject pronoun.

So:

Jag var mer stressad förut. ✅ correct
Var mer stressad förut. ❌ wrong as a normal statement

You can drop “jag” only in very special styles (e.g. diary notes, headlines, telegraphic writing), but in regular speech and writing, always include jag.

This is a key difference from languages like Spanish or Italian, but it’s similar to standard English (“Was more stressed before” is also incorrect in normal English).

Does "var" here have anything to do with the word "var" that means “where”?

They are two different words that just happen to be spelled the same:

var (verb) – past tense of är (to be):
- Jag är trött. → Jag var trött.
  I am tired. → I was tired.
In your sentence:
- Jag var mer stressad förut. = I was more stressed before.
var (question word) – “where”:
- Var är du? = Where are you?

They’re distinguished only by context and sentence position, not by spelling. Pronunciation is typically the same or very similar in standard speech.

How would I negate this? Where does "inte" go in "Jag var mer stressad förut"?

To negate it, place inte after the verb var:

Jag var inte mer stressad förut.
= I wasn’t more stressed before.

Some variations and their typical meanings:

Jag var inte stressad förut.
= I wasn’t stressed before. (Maybe I am now.)
Jag var mer stressad förut, inte nu.
= I was more stressed before, not now. (Explicit contrast.)
Jag var inte mer stressad förut än nu.
= I wasn’t more stressed before than I am now. (Denies the comparison.)

The basic rule: in main clauses, inte usually comes right after the finite verb (here: var).