Breakdown of Hon besöker sin mormor varannan helg.
hon
she
helgen
the weekend
besöka
to visit
sin
his/her/its/their own (en-word)
mormorn
the maternal grandmother
varannan
every other (en-words); vartannat (ett-words)
Questions & Answers about Hon besöker sin mormor varannan helg.
Why do we use varannan instead of vartannat?
Because the word for weekend, helg, is an en-word (en helg). The word for "every other" must match the gender of the noun. If she visited every other year (ett år), you would use the ett-word form: vartannat år.
Why is it varannan helg and not varannan helgen?
In Swedish, you always use the indefinite (basic) form of a noun after distributive time words like varannan (every other) and varje (every). Even though it might feel like we are talking about specific weekends, the rule is to avoid the definite -en or -et endings here.
Why use sin mormor instead of hennes mormor?
The word sin is a reflexive possessive pronoun that means "her own". Because "she" (hon) is the main subject doing the visiting, we use sin to show she is visiting her own grandmother. If the sentence used hennes (her), it would actually mean she is visiting some other woman's grandmother!
Does mormor apply to any grandmother?
It specifically means maternal grandmother, or "mother's mother" (mor + mor). Swedish has exact words for grandparents based on which side of the family they are on. A father's mother would instead be a farmor.
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