Word
Det är kallt här!
Meaning
It is cold here!
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Det är kallt här!
Why does the word for cold have a t at the end (kallt)?
In Swedish, adjectives change to match the word they describe. When describing an ett word, or when using the impersonal det (meaning "it") for weather and general situations, you add a -t to the end of the adjective. The base word is kall, but because the subject is det, it becomes kallt.
Does det refer to a specific object here?
No, just like in English, we use "it" (det) as a dummy subject to talk about the weather, temperature, or a general environment. It doesn't point to a specific thing.
How would I say "I am cold" instead? Is it "Jag är kall"?
Be careful with this! If you say Jag är kall, it means your physical body feels cold to someone touching you (like a cold pair of hands). To say that you feel cold yourself, you use a completely different verb: Jag fryser (literally "I am freezing").
If I start the sentence with här, how does the word order change?
Swedish uses the V2 rule, meaning the verb must be the second block of information in a statement. If you put här (here) first, the verb (är) must come right after it, followed by the subject (det). So it becomes: Här är det kallt!