Hon tar hellre med sin lunchlåda än köper dyr mat i centrum.

Hellre means rather or preferably. It shows a preference between two options.

In this sentence, hellre ... än ... means rather ... than ...:

• Hon tar hellre med sin lunchlåda än köper dyr mat i centrum.
• She would rather bring her lunch box than buy expensive food in the center.

A useful comparison:

• gärna = gladly / willingly
• hellre = rather

So:

• Jag äter gärna där. = I’m happy to eat there.
• Jag äter hellre hemma. = I’d rather eat at home.

Because Swedish main clauses normally follow the V2 rule: the finite verb goes in the second position.

Here the structure is:

• Hon = subject
• tar = finite verb
• hellre = adverb
• med = particle
• sin lunchlåda = object

So Hon tar hellre med ... is the normal word order.

A more literal breakdown is:

• Hon / tar / hellre / med / sin lunchlåda / än / köper / dyr mat / i centrum

If you said Hon hellre tar med ..., that would sound wrong in a normal main clause.

Ta med is a particle verb, and it means bring, take along, or take with you.

In Swedish, particle verbs are often split in main clauses:

• Hon tar med sin lunchlåda.
• She brings/takes along her lunch box.

So in your sentence, tar ... med still belongs together as one verbal idea. The adverb hellre is simply inserted between the verb and the particle:

• tar hellre med

This is similar to separable verb behavior in some other Germanic languages.

Because sin is the reflexive possessive form, and it is used when the owner is the same as the subject of the clause.

Here:

• Hon = the subject
• sin lunchlåda = her own lunch box

So sin is correct because the lunch box belongs to hon.

Compare:

• Hon tar med sin lunchlåda. = She brings her own lunch box.
• Hon tar med hennes lunchlåda. = She brings another woman’s lunch box.

This is one of the most important Swedish differences from English.

Because reflexive possessives must agree with the noun they describe.

The forms are:

• sin = for en-words singular
• sitt = for ett-words singular
• sina = for plural nouns

Since lunchlåda is an en-word and singular:

• en lunchlåda
• therefore: sin lunchlåda

Examples:

• sin bok = her/his own book
• sitt hus = her/his own house
• sina böcker = her/his own books

Swedish can compare actions in more than one way after hellre än.

The sentence compares two actions:

• tar med sin lunchlåda
• köper dyr mat i centrum

Using a finite verb after än is natural Swedish, especially when the subject is understood to be the same:

• Hon tar hellre med sin lunchlåda än köper dyr mat i centrum.

A version with att köpa is also possible:

• Hon tar hellre med sin lunchlåda än att köpa dyr mat i centrum.

So the given sentence is not strange; it is just a compact way of saying rather than buying.

Because Swedish often leaves it out when the subject is clearly the same in both parts.

So this:

• Hon tar hellre med sin lunchlåda än köper dyr mat i centrum

is understood as comparing two things she does or would do.

Repeating the subject is often unnecessary because it is already clear from the first part of the sentence.

English often prefers to repeat or rephrase the subject more explicitly, but Swedish is happy to leave it understood when there is no ambiguity.

Because Swedish often uses the present tense for general habits, preferences, and typical choices where English uses would rather.

So:

• Hon tar hellre med sin lunchlåda än köper dyr mat i centrum

can mean something like:

• She prefers bringing her lunch box to buying expensive food in the center.
• She would rather bring her lunch box than buy expensive food in the center.

If you wanted a more explicitly conditional or hypothetical tone, Swedish could use skulle:

• Hon skulle hellre ta med sin lunchlåda än köpa dyr mat i centrum.

That is closer to the English structure would rather.

Because mat is usually treated as an uncountable or mass noun when you mean food in general.

So Swedish often says:

• köpa mat = buy food
• äta mat = eat food
• dyr mat = expensive food

No article is needed here.

If you were talking about one specific meal or dish, Swedish would often use a different noun or a more specific structure, for example:

• en dyr måltid = an expensive meal

So dyr mat means expensive food in a general sense, not one countable item.

Usually it means in the center of town, downtown, or in the city center.

So dyr mat i centrum suggests food sold in the central area of a town or city, where it may be more expensive.

Depending on context, centrum can simply mean the center. But in everyday Swedish, i centrum very often refers to the town center.

If you specifically meant a shopping mall or shopping center, Swedish would more often say something like:

• i köpcentrumet = in the shopping center

Because Swedish normally writes compound nouns as one word.

So:

• lunch
  • låda = lunchlåda

This is very common in Swedish:

• kaffe
  • kopp = kaffekopp
• tand
  • borste = tandborste
• sommar
  • jobb = sommarjobb

The last part of the compound is the main noun, so lunchlåda is a kind of låda. That is also why it has the gender of låda:

• en låda
• en lunchlåda