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When talking about retirement and a relaxed lifestyle, you will often discuss acquiring things for your own comfort. First, some vocabulary for discussing your later years:

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### Doing Things for Yourself

Just like in English ("I bought myself a car"), Swedish uses reflexive pronouns (*mig, dig, sig, oss, er, sig*) as indirect objects to show an action is done for the subject's own benefit. This is called a **benefactive reflexive**.

**Subject + Verb + Reflexive Pronoun + Direct Object**

This is very common with verbs like *köpa* (to buy) and *skaffa* (to get/obtain):

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### Treating Yourself

Some verbs naturally pair with this structure. The verb *unna* (to treat/allow) is almost always used with a reflexive pronoun to talk about rewarding yourself.

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### Everyday Actions

You can attach a reflexive indirect object to ordinary verbs like *hyra* (to rent) or *bygga* (to build) to add a cozy, personal emphasis. Remember to match the pronoun to the subject (e.g., *vi* takes *oss*).

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### Combining with "Det gäller att"

The phrase *det gäller att* means "it is crucial to," "it is important to," or "it is a matter of." You will frequently see it combined with benefactive reflexives when giving lifestyle advice.

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Benefactive reflexives (köpa sig, ta sig)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite ending (barnet, hunden)

Indefinite articles and -ar verbs (en, ett)

Basic word order

Singular adjectives (stor, stort)

Plural adjectives (-a)

Sentence negation (inte)

Yes/No questions

Basic question words (vad, vem, var)

Regular Group 2 verbs (-er)

Short verbs and irregulars (har, gör)

The infinitive marker (att)

Modal verbs (kan, vill, måste, får)

Future intention (ska)

Time adverbs (imorgon, igår)

Word order inversion

Adverbs of frequency (ibland, aldrig)

Everyday things (dörren, stolen, tåget)

Definite suffix spelling changes

Plural nouns Group 1 and 2 (-or, -ar)

Plural nouns Group 3 (-er, -r)

Neuter indefinite plurals

Definite plural suffixes (-na, -a, -en)

Object pronouns (mig, dig, oss)

Reflexive pronouns (sig)

Expanded question words (när, varför)

Which and what (vilken, vilket, vilka)

Coordinating conjunctions (men, eller, för)

Prepositions of place (i, på, till, från)

Quantifiers (mycket, många)

Indefinite pronouns (någon, något, några)

First and second person possessives (min, din, vår, er)

Third person possessives (hans, hennes, dess, deras)

Reflexive possessives (sin, sitt, sina)

The genitive (-s)

Adjectives before singular nouns

Adjectives before plural nouns (-a)

Double definiteness (den, det, de)

Demonstratives (den här, det här, de här)

The imperative mood

Past tense of vara and ha (var, hade)

Possessives for names (-s)

Definite plural adjectives (de ... -a)

Genitive case for names (-s)

Numbers 1 to 10 (en, två, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (elva till tjugo)

Counting by tens to 100 (trettio, fyrtio...)

Days of the week (måndag, tisdag...)

Months of the year (januari, februari...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (första, andra...)

Greetings and politeness (hej, tack, förlåt)

Particle verbs of direction (gå ut, komma in)

Simple past: Group 1 (-ade)

Simple past: Group 2a (-de)

Simple past: Group 2b (-te)

Simple past: Group 3 (-dde)

Simple past: Group 4

Present perfect: Groups 1 and 2 (har)

Present perfect: Groups 3 and 4

Past perfect (hade)

Future predictions (kommer att)

Future with present tense

The adjective small (liten, litet, små)

Demonstratives of distance (den där, det där, de där)

Negative pronouns (ingen, inget, inga)

Universal pronouns (all, allt, alla)

The generic pronoun (man, en)

Possessive generic pronoun (ens)

Reciprocal pronoun (varandra)

Qualitative pronouns (sådan, sådant, sådana)

Habitual time expressions (på)

Specific past time expressions (i)

Past time expressions (för ... sedan)

Future time expressions (om)

Location and motion adverbs (här/hit, där/dit)

Consequences (så)

Correlative conjunctions (både ... och)

Either and neither (antingen ... eller, varken ... eller)

Verbs of opinion and belief (tycker, tror, tänker)

Subordinate clauses (att, om)

Time clauses (när, innan, medan)

Clauses of cause (eftersom, därför att)

Negation in subordinate clauses (inte)

V2 word order inversion

Relative clauses as subjects (som)

Relative clauses as objects (som)

Relative clauses for places (där)

Adverbs from adjectives (-t)

Adjective comparative and superlative (-are, -ast)

Question	Answer
to deserve	förtjäna
the old age	ålderdomen
Everyone deserves a peaceful old age.	Var och en förtjänar en lugn ålderdom.
the pensioner	pensionären
carefree	bekymmersfri
the existence	tillvaron
The pensioner wanted a carefree existence. Therefore, he bought himself a country house.	Pensionären ville ha en bekymmersfri tillvaro. Därför köpte han sig ett lantställe.
to obtain (actively acquire)	skaffa
the motorhome	husbilen
Many plan to get themselves a motorhome after retirement.	Många planerar att skaffa sig en husbil efter pensionen.
Now it is a matter of enjoying old age in the motorhome.	Nu gäller det att njuta av ålderdomen i husbilen.
to treat	unna
You have worked hard and deserve to treat yourself to a long vacation.	Du har arbetat hårt och förtjänar att unna dig en lång semester.
the country life	lantlivet
the porch	verandan
We rented ourselves a cottage to enjoy country life on the porch.	Vi hyrde oss en stuga för att njuta av lantlivet på verandan.
The pensioner built himself a new bench for the porch.	Pensionären byggde sig en ny bänk till verandan.
If you want a carefree existence, it is crucial to get yourself good habits.	Om du vill ha en bekymmersfri tillvaro gäller det att skaffa dig goda vanor.
Country life offers a peaceful existence. Therefore, more people are moving there.	Lantlivet erbjuder en lugn tillvaro. Därför flyttar fler dit.
The grandfather always used to treat himself to a break in the evening.	Farfarn brukade alltid unna sig en paus på kvällen.
to own	äga
The family owns a house in the countryside.	Familjen äger ett hus på landet.
Who owns this car?	Vem äger den här bilen?
to gather, to collect	samla
We gathered money for the school.	Vi samlade pengar till skolan.
Everyone gathered outside the house.	Alla samlades utanför huset.
to try, to try on	prova
May I try on the jacket?	Får jag prova jackan?
Try one more time!	Prova en gång till!
to dream	drömma
I dreamt the whole night.	Jag drömde hela natten.
Children often dream in colour.	Barn drömmer ofta i färg.

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