Breakdown of Jag kan relatera till hennes situation.
jag
I
kunna
to be able to, can
hennes
her (possessive)
situationen
the situation
relatera till
to relate to
Questions & Answers about Jag kan relatera till hennes situation.
Is relatera till a direct translation from English, or is it natural Swedish?
While relatera till is perfectly understood and widely used in modern everyday Swedish, it is somewhat of an anglicism. A highly natural, traditional Swedish alternative for "relate to" in this context is känna igen sig i (literally "recognize oneself in"). A native speaker might just as often say Jag kan känna igen mig i hennes situation.
Why do we use hennes here instead of sin?
The reflexive possessive sin strictly refers back to the subject of the same clause. Here, the subject is jag (I), not "she". Because the owner of the situation is someone other than the subject, we must use the non-reflexive hennes. If the sentence were "She can relate to her (own) situation," then the subject and owner would match, and you would say Hon kan relatera till sin situation.
Is the gender of the word situation predictable?
Yes! It is an en word (en situation, den situationen). As a very reliable rule in Swedish, virtually all nouns ending in -tion are en words.
Does the verb relatera always take the preposition till?
Yes, when you are talking about relating to, connecting with, or comparing something to something else, it is always paired with till. For example, you might also ask Hur relaterar det här till problemet? (How does this relate to the problem?).
Learn Jag kan relatera till hennes situation and more in Swedish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free