Learn Hardcore Swedish: Vardagsrummet känns lugnt när allt är städat. - The living room feels calm when everything is tidy.

vardagsrum = an everyday-room (living room), ett-word (neuter)
Add -met to make it definite: ett vardagsrum → vardagsrummet (the living room)

So the sentence is talking about a specific room: the living room, not living rooms in general.

What does känns mean, and how is it different from är?

känns is the passive/reflexive form of känna and is used like English feels (seems, gives the impression of).

vardagsrummet känns lugnt ≈ the living room feels calm
vardagsrummet är lugnt ≈ the living room is calm

Both are possible, but:

känns focuses on your perception or impression.
är is a more neutral statement of fact.

Using känns here emphasizes how the room feels to you when it is tidy.

Why is it lugnt with a -t, and not lugn?

Adjectives in Swedish agree with the gender and form of the noun they describe.

vardagsrum is an ett-word (neuter): ett vardagsrum
With ett-words, predicative adjectives take -t:
- rummet är lugnt
- rummet känns lugnt

Compare:

En bil är röd. (en-word → röd, no -t)
Ett rum är rött. (ett-word → rött, with -t)

So with vardagsrummet (an ett-word in the definite form), the adjective must be lugnt.

If vardagsrummet is definite, why isn’t the adjective lugna (like in det lugna rummet)?

Swedish makes a distinction:

Attributive adjectives (before the noun):
- det lugna rummet = the calm room
  → definite noun (rummet) + definite adjective (lugna) + definite article (det)
Predicative adjectives (after är, känns, etc.):
- rummet känns lugnt
- rummet är lugnt

In predicative position, you do not use lugna; you use the neuter form lugnt because rummet is an ett-word. The -a form is mostly for:

plural: rummen är lugna
some fixed patterns with definite nouns before the adjective: det lugna rummet

What exactly does när mean here? Could I use om instead?

In this sentence, när is a time conjunction meaning when (at the time that).

när allt är städat = when everything is clean / has been cleaned

om can also sometimes be when (in hypothetical or repeated situations), but it mainly means if. Here, om would sound wrong or at least very odd, because we are talking about a real, normal situation, not a condition or speculation.

Use när for actual points in time:
Jag mår bra när jag sover. – I feel good when I sleep.

Use om for conditions:
Jag mår bra om jag sover. – I feel good if I sleep.

Why is the verb order different in när allt är städat from English when everything is cleaned?

Swedish word order rules change inside a subordinate clause introduced by words like när, att, eftersom, eftersom att, om.

In main clauses, Swedish is basically verb-second:

Allt är städat. (Subject – Verb – Rest)

In subordinate clauses, the finite verb does not have to be in second place; it usually comes after the subject:

när allt är städat = when everything is clean
(conjunction när – subject allt – verb är – participle städat)

So:

Main clause: Allt är städat.
Subordinate clause: när allt är städat

Why is it är städat and not har städat?

är städat uses the verb vara (är) + a past participle städat. It describes a resulting state:

allt är städat ≈ everything is in a cleaned state / everything is clean

har städat is the perfect tense of the active verb städa:

Jag har städat = I have cleaned

So:

är städat → focus on the state/result (everything is tidy)
har städat → focus on the action (someone has done the cleaning)

In this sentence, the speaker cares about the state of the room, so är städat is appropriate.

Is är städat a passive form?

Grammatically, är städat uses a past participle of städa with vara (är). In many grammars, this is called a resultative passive or stative passive.

Allt är städat. – Everything is (in the state of having been) cleaned.

Compare:

Allt städas. – Everything is being cleaned. (dynamic passive with -s)
Allt är städat. – Everything is (already) clean. (resulting state)

So yes, it is a type of passive, but it describes the state after the cleaning, not the ongoing action.

What does allt mean exactly, and why not alla?

allt = everything (an indefinite neuter pronoun)
alla = all, everyone, all of them (plural)

Here, allt refers to everything in the living room: all the stuff, the room as a whole.

If you said när alla är städade, it would sound like you are talking about people being cleaned, or a set of plural items, and it’s still a bit odd stylistically. allt är städat is the natural way to say everything is cleaned / everything is tidy.

Could I say Vardagsrummet är lugnt när allt är städat instead? Would it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Vardagsrummet är lugnt när allt är städat.

It is correct and very close in meaning. The nuance:

känns lugnt → more subjective, focuses on how it feels to you.
är lugnt → more neutral, more like stating a fact about the room.

In everyday speech, both are fine, but känns lugnt adds that personal, sensory impression.

Could I also say something like Vardagsrummet känns lugnt när jag har städat? How would that differ?

Yes, that is correct Swedish:

Vardagsrummet känns lugnt när jag har städat.
= The living room feels calm when I have cleaned.

Difference in focus:

när allt är städat = focuses on the state/result (everything is tidy), without saying who did it.
när jag har städat = focuses on your action (when I have done the cleaning).

Both are natural, but the original sentence is more about the condition of the room, not who cleaned it.

How would I say this with det känns instead of the room as the subject?

A very natural alternative is:

Det känns lugnt i vardagsrummet när allt är städat.
= It feels calm in the living room when everything is tidy.

Here:

Det känns lugnt – It feels calm
i vardagsrummet – in the living room
när allt är städat – when everything is cleaned

This version uses the dummy subject det (it), similar to English it feels… instead of making vardagsrummet the grammatical subject. Both versions are common and correct.