Language/Swedish/Grammar/How-to-express-our-feelings

Making Small Talk in Swedish

Express Feelings by using the verb att vara ("to be")

In this lesson, we'll learn how to express our feelings. Expressing your feelings can be done in many ways in Swedish, but this lesson will only cover how to do that by using the verb att vara ("to be"). Examples of how to express feelings by using this specific word can be found in this lesson's dialogue. Let's have a look:

Examples from this dialogue:

Jag är arg! 

"I'm angry!"

Jag är så besviken. 

"I'm so disappointed."

Forming these kinds of sentences is easy. You simply use the personal pronoun jag ("I"), together with the verb att vara ("to be") in its present tense är ("am") to form the statement jag är ("I am"). This is then followed by any adjective that describes what you're feeling. This means that we have a sentence formula that looks like this: Jag är + [adjective describing feeling] ("I'm [adjective describing feeling]."). Let's illustrate this with some examples where we use the adjectives glad ("happy"), ledsen ("sad"), and förbannad ("furious"). 

For example:

Jag är glad. 

"I'm happy."

Jag är ledsen. 

"I'm sad."

Jag är förbannad. 

"I'm furious."

Sometimes when we want to express our feelings, it can also be good to use an intensifier so what you're expressing really corresponds to what you're actually feeling. Two intensifiers that can be handy are the adverbs så ("so") and jätte ("really"). Så ("so") was used for the example in this lesson's dialogue when Jens said, Jag är så besviken ("I'm so disappointed."). In order to use these intensifiers appropriately, in the sentence structure we just learned, we need to place them before the adjective. We'll use the same sentences as we had previously, but this time with the intensifiers så and jätte.

For example:

Jag är jätteglad.

"I'm really happy."

Jag är så ledsen. 

"I'm so sad."

Jag är jätteförbannad. 

"I'm really furious."

Here are some additional adjectives that can come in handy when you want to express feelings.

Positive feelings / / Negative feelings

överlycklig / "overjoyed" / irriterad / "irritated"

optimistisk / "optimistic" / oroad/bekymrad / "worried"

road / "amused" / förkrossad / "devastated"

upprymd / "exhilarated" / sårad / "hurt"

Express Feelings with the verb att känna ("to feel") and the reflexive pronoun mig ("me")

Let's look at some examples from this lesson's dialogue:

Jag känner mig så glad!

"I feel so happy!"

Jag känner mig väldigt stolt över dig. 

"I feel very proud of you."

In order to express feelings by using the verb att känna together with the reflexive pronoun mig ("me"), we'll use a sentence structure that starts off with the personal pronoun jag ("I"), followed by känner, which is the present tense of att känna ("to feel"), followed with the reflexive pronoun mig ("me"). This is then followed by an adjective that describes the feeling you want to express. In other words, this means that we have a sentence formula that looks like this: Jag känner mig + [adjective describing feeling] or ("I feel [adjective describing feeling]"). Let's illustrate this with some examples where we use the adjectives överlycklig ("overjoyed"), ledsen ("sad"), and förbannad ("furious").

For example:

Jag känner mig överlycklig.

"I feel overjoyed."

Jag känner mig ledsen. 

"I feel sad." 

Jag känner mig förbannad. 

"I feel furious."

Here are some more examples of adjectives that can be used to express feelings.

Positive feelings / English translation / Negative feelings / English translation

nöjd / "satisfied" / blyg / "shy"

fri / "free" / tom / "empty"

lättad / "relieved" / ensam / "lonely"

stolt / "proud" / bräcklig / "fragile"

Other Lessons

• Conditional Mood
• Past Tense
• Negation
• Time References
• Pronouns
• Nouns
• Conditional Tense
• How to express ownership
• How to Talk About How Something Smells
• Indefinite Articles in Swedish
• How Often or Seldom You Do Something
• How to Describe Someone's Appearance and Personality
• Plurals
• Be Polite
• Present Tense