Questions & Answers about Hon inbillar sig att chefen hatar henne.
Why is inbillar paired with the reflexive pronoun sig here? Is she imagining herself?
Not exactly. Att inbilla sig is a fixed reflexive verb used for involuntary mental states, specifically acquiring a false belief. The non-reflexive att inbilla means to trick someone into believing something. By adding the reflexive sig, it literally means she is tricking herself, which translates as imagining or falsely believing something.
Could I use another verb for 'imagine' here, like föreställer sig?
You could, but it completely changes the nuance. Föreställa sig means to passively visualize or picture a scenario in your mind. Inbilla sig carries the specific meaning of imagining something that isn't true. By using inbillar sig, the speaker strongly implies that the boss actually does not hate her.
Since the sentence is about Hon, why does it end with henne instead of the reflexive sig?
Because henne is inside a new subordinate clause: att chefen hatar henne. A reflexive pronoun like sig must refer back to the subject of its own specific clause. The subject of the second clause is chefen (the boss). Since the boss is hating her, not hating himself or herself, we must use the regular object pronoun henne.
The Swedish sentence says chefen (the boss). Would it be correct to say hennes chefen to specify it is her boss?