På söndag ska vi hälsa på morfar, om mamma känner sig bättre då.

Because Swedish uses V2 word order in main clauses. That means the finite verb has to come in the second position.

The basic order is:

Vi ska hälsa på morfar.
= We are going to visit grandpa.

If you move På söndag to the front for emphasis or time setting, the verb still has to stay in second position:

På söndag ska vi hälsa på morfar.

So Swedish does not say:

På söndag vi ska ... ❌

This kind of inversion is very common in Swedish.

Here ska is used to talk about a future plan or something that is intended to happen.

So ska vi hälsa på morfar means something like:

• we’re going to visit grandpa
• we’ll visit grandpa
• we plan to visit grandpa

It often suggests that the visit is already being considered or arranged, not just a vague future.

Yes, hälsa by itself often means to greet.

But hälsa på is a fixed expression meaning:

• to visit
• to go and see someone

So:

• hälsa = greet
• hälsa på = visit

Examples:

• Jag hälsade på henne. = I visited her.
• Jag hälsade henne. = I greeted her.
  (This is much less common in everyday speech than English greet.)

So in your sentence, hälsa på morfar means visit grandpa, not just say hello to him.

Not really. In this expression, på is part of the verb, so it is best learned as a whole unit:

hälsa på = visit

This is similar to how English has phrasal verbs like come over, look after, or give up. The small word is important, but the whole expression has its own meaning.

So it is better to memorize:

hälsa på någon = visit someone

rather than trying to translate på by itself.

Swedish often uses family words without a possessive when it is already clear whose relative is meant.

So hälsa på morfar can naturally mean:

• visit grandpa
• visit our grandpa
• visit granddad

This is often more natural in Swedish than explicitly saying min morfar or vår morfar, especially when the context already makes it obvious.

Also, morfar specifically means mother’s father.

Compare:

• morfar = maternal grandfather
• farfar = paternal grandfather

Because Swedish does not capitalize common nouns the way German does, and family words are normally lowercase too.

So:

• morfar
• mamma
• söndag

are all written with lowercase letters unless they begin the sentence.

This can feel unusual if you are thinking of English name-like usage such as Grandpa, but in Swedish lowercase is normal here.

It can, but om has more than one meaning.

In this sentence, om means if:

om mamma känner sig bättre då
= if mum feels better then

So Swedish om can mean:

• if
• about

You have to tell from context.

Examples:

• Om det regnar, stannar vi hemma. = If it rains, we’ll stay home.
• Vi pratade om filmen. = We talked about the film.

Here it is clearly the if meaning.

Because känna sig means feel in the sense of feel oneself / feel in a certain condition.

So:

• mamma känner sig bättre = mum feels better

The sig is a reflexive pronoun, matching the subject.

Compare:

• Jag känner mig bättre. = I feel better
• Du känner dig bättre. = You feel better
• Hon känner sig bättre. = She feels better

If you say känner bättre without the reflexive pronoun, it sounds incomplete or wrong in this meaning.

Both can make sense, but they are not exactly the same.

• är bättre = is better
• känner sig bättre = feels better

känner sig bättre focuses on how she feels physically or generally.
It sounds very natural when talking about health.

So this sentence suggests:

We’ll visit grandpa on Sunday, if mum feels better by then.

That sounds a bit more personal and natural than simply stating her condition as a fact.

Here då means then or at that time.

It refers back to På söndag. So the idea is:

• if mum feels better then
• if mum feels better by that time

It helps connect the condition to Sunday specifically.

Without då, the sentence would still work:

På söndag ska vi hälsa på morfar, om mamma känner sig bättre.

But då makes the time connection clearer.

Because this part is a subordinate clause introduced by om.

In Swedish, subordinate clauses do not follow the same V2 rule as main clauses. The subject usually comes before the finite verb:

• om mamma känner sig bättre då

not:

• om mamma sig känner bättre då ❌
• om känner mamma sig bättre då ❌

So the sentence has:

• main clause: På söndag ska vi hälsa på morfar
• subordinate clause: om mamma känner sig bättre då

This difference between main-clause and subordinate-clause word order is very important in Swedish.

Not always. Swedish comma usage is often less strict than English comma usage.

So both of these can be seen:

• På söndag ska vi hälsa på morfar, om mamma känner sig bättre då.
• På söndag ska vi hälsa på morfar om mamma känner sig bättre då.

The comma can help readability by showing a pause before the condition, but it is not always required.

So if you see Swedish sentences with fewer commas than you expect from English, that is normal.