Daily Routine & Reflexive Verbs
Daily Routine & Reflexive Verbs
Describing a typical day introduces sig — Swedish's reflexive word for actions you do to yourself — plus a small set of high-frequency verbs that recur every single day.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Reflexive verbs need a matching pronoun — except in the sig-verbs
jag klär på mig, du klär på dig, hon klär på sig
I get dressed, you get dressed, she gets dressed
Some everyday routine verbs are reflexive in Swedish even where English doesn't treat them that way, like klä på sig (to get dressed, literally "to clothe oneself"). The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject — mig (myself), dig (yourself), sig (himself/herself/itself/themselves) — with sig covering third person and reflexive-plural uses all by itself.
vakna (wake up) isn't reflexive — but stiga upp (get up) uses a particle instead
jag vaknar, jag stiger upp
I wake up, I get up
Not every routine verb follows the reflexive pattern: vakna (to wake up) is a plain, non-reflexive verb on its own. stiga upp (to get up, literally "to rise up") instead pairs the verb stiga with the particle upp — a two-word combination, similar in spirit to English phrasal verbs like "get up", rather than a reflexive construction.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- I wake up
- English
- I get up
- English
- I wash up
- English
- I get dressed
- English
- I have breakfast
- English
- I go to work
- English
- I have lunch
- English
- I come home
- English
- I have dinner
- English
- I go to bed
- English
- I sleep