Erfarenheten hjälper henne att hantera konflikter på jobbet.

The experience helps her handle conflicts at work.

Breakdown of Erfarenheten hjälper henne att hantera konflikter på jobbet.

• att: to
• jobbet: the work
• på: at
• hjälpa: to help
• henne: her
• hantera: to handle
• konflikten: the conflict
• erfarenheten: the experience

Questions & Answers about Erfarenheten hjälper henne att hantera konflikter på jobbet.

Why is it erfarenheten and not erfarenhet here?

Erfarenheten is the definite singular form of erfarenhet (“experience”), literally “the experience.”

In Swedish, the definite form is often used where English uses no article, especially with abstract nouns:

• Erfarenheten hjälper henne …
  = “Experience helps her …” (general / her experience in life)

You could say:

• Hennes erfarenhet hjälper henne … = “Her experience helps her …”

But Erfarenhet hjälper henne … (indefinite, singular) is unusual here; it sounds like you’re talking about “experience” more as a concept than as her accumulated experience.

So: Swedish likes definite for “things we know about in context,” including abstract things like experience, the weather, etc., where English often has no article.

What gender is erfarenhet, and how do you decline it?

Erfarenhet is an en-word.

Typical forms:

• Indefinite singular: en erfarenhet – an experience
• Definite singular: erfarenheten – the experience
• Indefinite plural: erfarenheter – experiences
• Definite plural: erfarenheterna – the experiences

Most nouns ending in -het (like frihet, möjlighet, säkerhet) are en-words and follow this pattern.

Why do we use henne instead of hon?

Hon is a subject pronoun (“she”).
Henne is the object form (“her”).

After a verb, when the person is the one affected by the action, you use the object form:

• Hon hjälper honom. = She helps him.
• Erfarenheten hjälper henne. = The experience helps her.

A quick pronoun pair list (subject → object):

• jag → mig (I → me)
• du → dig (you → you)
• han → honom (he → him)
• hon → henne (she → her)
• vi → oss (we → us)
• ni → er (you (pl) → you)
• de → dem (they → them; pronounced dom in speech)

What does att do in att hantera, and can it be omitted?

Here att is the infinitive marker, like “to” in English:

• att hantera = “to handle”

After hjälpa, you normally say:

• hjälpa någon att göra något
  “help someone to do something”

So:

• hjälper henne att hantera konflikter
  = “helps her (to) handle conflicts”

In everyday speech, att is often dropped in this pattern:

• Erfarenheten hjälper henne hantera konflikter.

That’s quite natural in spoken and informal written Swedish. With att is a bit more careful/formal, but both are acceptable.

Note: this att is not the same as att = “that” in phrases like Jag vet att hon kommer (“I know that she is coming”).

Why is it hantera and not hanterar after att?

Hantera is the infinitive form (“to handle”).
Hanterar is the present tense (“handles,” “is handling”).

Rule: after the infinitive marker att, you always use the infinitive, without -r:

• att prata, not att pratar – to talk
• att läsa, not att läser – to read
• att hantera, not att hanterar – to handle

So:

• Erfarenheten hjälper henne att hantera konflikter.
  ✅ correct

Att hanterar konflikter is grammatically wrong.

Where does henne go in the word order? Could I say hjälper att hantera henne konflikter?

No. Swedish keeps a fairly strict S–V–O (subject–verb–object) order in simple clauses.

Basic pattern here:

• Erfarenheten (S) hjälper (V) henne (O) att hantera konflikter på jobbet (infinitive phrase + adverbial)

You cannot move henne inside the infinitive phrase like that:

• ❌ hjälper att hantera henne konflikter – incorrect
• ✅ hjälper henne att hantera konflikter – correct

The object henne belongs to hjälper, so it stays directly after the verb (unless something like a sentence adverb intervenes, which isn’t the case here).

Why is konflikter in the plural, and when would you use konflikterna instead?

Konflikter is the indefinite plural: “conflicts.”

Here we’re talking about conflicts in general / any conflicts that appear at work, not some specific set already identified. That’s why:

• … att hantera konflikter på jobbet.
  = “to handle conflicts at work” (in general)

Compare:

• … att hantera konflikten på jobbet.
  = “to handle the conflict at work” (one particular conflict)
• … att hantera konflikterna på jobbet.
  = “to handle the conflicts at work” (a specific set of conflicts we both know about)

So plural indefinite (konflikter) fits the general meaning: dealing with conflicts as a type of situation.

Why is jobbet definite, but konflikter is not?

Two different reasons:

1. Jobbet: Swedish often uses the definite form for “work,” “school,” etc. when you mean “at work,” “at school” in a general, everyday sense:

   • på jobbet = at work
   • i skolan = at school
   • på universitetet = at university

   You don’t normally say på jobb for this meaning.

2. Konflikter: here it’s indefinite plural because you’re talking about conflicts in general, not some already specified set (see previous answer).

So we get:

• konflikter (indefinite plural, general type of thing)
• jobbet (definite, because “the workplace” is treated as a known location)

Why do we say på jobbet and not i jobbet?

På is the standard preposition for “at (one’s) work/place of work”:

• på jobbet – at work
• på kontoret – at the office
• på fabriken – at the factory

I jobbet does exist, but it has a different nuance: it means “in (the content of) one’s work / in what the job involves”, not the physical or social place.

For example:

• Det ingår mycket resor i jobbet.
  = There’s a lot of travelling in the job.

So:

• hantera konflikter på jobbet = handle conflicts at work
• ingår mycket ansvar i jobbet = a lot of responsibility is included in the job

Can på jobbet be moved to another position in the sentence?

Yes. På jobbet is an adverbial (time/place), and those are fairly mobile in Swedish.

All of these are possible (with small differences in emphasis):

1. Erfarenheten hjälper henne att hantera konflikter på jobbet.
   (neutral; default order)

2. På jobbet hjälper erfarenheten henne att hantera konflikter.
   (emphasis on “at work” – that’s where this is true)

3. Erfarenheten hjälper henne på jobbet att hantera konflikter.
   (also possible, but feels a bit heavier / more formal)

Swedish main-clause rule still holds: if you start with something other than the subject (like På jobbet), the finite verb (hjälper) must be in second position: På jobbet hjälper erfarenheten…

What tense is hjälper, and how is hjälpa conjugated?

Hjälper is present tense: “helps,” “is helping.”

Basic forms of hjälpa:

• Infinitive: hjälpa – to help
• Present: hjälper – help(s) / am/is/are helping
• Past (preterite): hjälpte – helped
• Supine (with har): hjälpt – has/have helped
• Imperative: hjälp! – help!

So Erfarenheten hjälper henne … = “Experience helps her …” (generally/regularly).

How do you pronounce the trickier words in this sentence?

Very roughly, using English-like sounds (actual Swedish sounds are a bit different):

• erfarenheten ≈ “AIR-fah-ren-hay-ten”
• hjälper ≈ “YEL-per” (initial hj is like a soft y, ä like the vowel in “hair”)
• henne ≈ “HEN-neh”
• hantera ≈ “han-TEH-rah” (stress on -te-)
• konflikter ≈ “kon-FLIK-ter”
• jobbet ≈ “YOB-bet” (j as English y, short o like “got”)

Correct stress pattern:
Er-FA-ren-he-ten HJÄL-per HEN-ne att han-TE-ra KON-flik-ter på JOB-bet.