Den elev som sitter bredvid mig hjälper mig gärna med grammatiken efter lektionen.

Because Swedish often uses den/det + noun when the noun is followed by extra information that identifies it.

Here, den elev som sitter bredvid mig means the student who is sitting next to me.

Compare:

• eleven = the student
• den elev som sitter bredvid mig = the student who is sitting next to me

In English, we can say the student who... with just the. In Swedish, it is very common to use den before the noun in this kind of structure.

Because after den in this kind of construction, Swedish usually uses the indefinite singular form of the noun, not the definite ending.

So:

• en elev = a student
• eleven = the student
• den elev som sitter bredvid mig = literally something like that student who sits next to me, but naturally it means the student who sits next to me

This is a very common pattern:

• den bok som... = the book that...
• den man som... = the man who...
• det hus som... = the house that...

Som is the relative word who, that, or which.

In this sentence:

• den elev som sitter bredvid mig = the student who is sitting next to me

Swedish som is very useful because it works for people and things:

• mannen som kom = the man who came
• boken som ligger där = the book that is lying there

Unlike English, Swedish does not usually alternate between who and that in the same way. Som covers both very naturally.

Swedish often uses the present tense by itself where English prefers is/are + -ing.

So:

• sitter can mean sits or is sitting
• hjälper can mean helps or is helping

In this sentence, som sitter bredvid mig is naturally understood as who is sitting next to me, because it describes the student’s current position.

This is very normal in Swedish. The language uses the simple present more broadly than English does.

Bredvid means next to or beside.

• bredvid mig = next to me

Swedish uses mig because it is the object form of jag.

Compare:

• jag = I
• mig = me

After a preposition like bredvid, you use the object form:

• bredvid mig = next to me
• med mig = with me
• utan mig = without me

So jag would be wrong here.

Because the two mig words do different jobs:

1. bredvid mig = next to me
   Here, mig is the object of the preposition bredvid.

2. hjälper mig = helps me
   Here, mig is the direct object of the verb hjälper.

So even though the same word appears twice, it belongs to two different parts of the sentence.

Gärna often means something like:

• gladly
• willingly
• with pleasure

So:

• hjälper mig gärna = is happy to help me / gladly helps me

It adds the idea that the person does it willingly, not reluctantly.

This is a very common Swedish word and it does not always translate neatly with one English word. For example:

• Jag kommer gärna. = I’d be happy to come.
• Hon hjälper gärna till. = She is happy to help.

Because gärna is an adverb, and in a main clause it often comes after the verb and its object, especially in simple sentences like this one.

So:

• hjälper mig gärna = natural Swedish word order

You can think of the core part as:

• hjälper mig = helps me
• gärna adds gladly / willingly

Swedish adverb placement can vary somewhat depending on emphasis and structure, but this placement is completely natural here.

The verb hjälpa någon med något means to help someone with something.

So:

• hjälpa mig med grammatiken = help me with the grammar

This is just the normal pattern of the verb. Some Swedish verbs take prepositions where English does too, and this is one of those cases.

Examples:

• Hon hjälper mig med läxan. = She helps me with the homework.
• Kan du hjälpa honom med bilen? = Can you help him with the car?

Grammatiken is the definite form: the grammar.

In context, Swedish often uses the definite form where English might say simply grammar.

So:

• med grammatik could sound more general, like with grammar as a subject
• med grammatiken sounds more like with the grammar / with the grammar work / with the grammar we’re dealing with

In a school context, grammatiken is very natural because it refers to the specific grammar the speaker needs help with.

Efter lektionen means after the lesson.

The definite form lektionen is used because it refers to a specific lesson, usually the one both speaker and listener know about.

Compare:

• efter lektionen = after the lesson
• efter en lektion = after a lesson (any lesson, one lesson)
• efter lektion is generally not idiomatic here

Swedish often uses the definite form when the situation already makes the noun specific.

Swedish main clauses follow the V2 rule, which means the finite verb normally comes in the second position.

Here the sentence begins with the whole subject:

• Den elev som sitter bredvid mig = position 1
• hjälper = position 2

Then come the rest:

• mig gärna med grammatiken efter lektionen

This is standard Swedish word order.

If you move another element to the front, the verb still stays second:

• Efter lektionen hjälper den elev som sitter bredvid mig gärna mig med grammatiken.

That sounds a bit more marked, but it shows the same rule.

Yes. The entire phrase is the subject of the sentence.

Breakdown:

• Den elev = the student
• som sitter bredvid mig = who is sitting next to me

Together they form one noun phrase:

• Den elev som sitter bredvid mig = The student who is sitting next to me

That whole phrase is the one doing the action of hjälper.

Yes, in informal writing, mej is a common alternative spelling of mig.

So both are possible:

• bredvid mig = standard written Swedish
• bredvid mej = informal spelling, often closer to pronunciation

For learners, it is best to use mig in formal and standard writing.

A helpful way is:

• Den elev som sitter bredvid mig
  = The student who is sitting next to me

• hjälper mig gärna
  = gladly helps me / is happy to help me

• med grammatiken
  = with the grammar

• efter lektionen
  = after the lesson

This kind of chunking makes long Swedish sentences much easier to read.