Hur mår du: Talk About Your Health in Swedish

When you move to Sweden or travel there, conversations about how you feel come up almost every day. Whether a coworker asks how your morning went or you need to visit a pharmacy for medicine, knowing how to describe your well-being in Swedish is essential.

Talking about health in Swedish is refreshingly straightforward once you learn two core verbs: må (to feel, regarding health) and ha (to have). Let's look at how to use them naturally without falling into common English-speaker traps.

How to Say How You Feel: Må vs Känna sig

In English, we use the verb "to feel" for everything: "I feel sick," "I feel cold," or "I feel happy." In Swedish, different verbs handle different types of feelings.

When you talk about your general state of health, the verb to use is må (to feel):

Hur mår du? – How are you? / How do you feel?
Jag mår bra. – I feel good. / I am doing well.
Jag mår toppen! – I feel great!
Jag mår dåligt. – I feel bad. / I feel unwell.

Be careful with one famous false friend: dåligt vs illa. If you say Jag mår dåligt (I feel bad), people understand that you feel sick, down, or generally unwell. But if you say Jag mår illa (I feel nauseous), it means your stomach is turning and you might throw up. Mix those up, and someone might hand you a bucket when all you wanted was an aspirin!

If you want to describe a specific temporary sensation or emotion, use the reflexive phrase känna sig (to feel [oneself]):

Jag känner mig trött. – I feel tired.
Känner du dig pigg? – Do you feel awake / alert?
Hon känner sig stressad. – She feels stressed.

A quick memory trick: use må for your overall physical health condition, and känna sig followed by an adjective when describing how you feel in the moment.

How to Describe Pain: The Magic of "Ha ont i"

What if something actually hurts? In English, we often say "My head hurts" or "I have a stomach ache."

In Swedish, the standard and most natural pattern is ha ont i (to have pain in) followed by the body part in the definite form (with -en or -et at the end):

Jag har ont i huvudet. – I have a headache. (Literally: "I have pain in the head.")
Han har ont i magen. – He has a stomach ache.
Har du ont i halsen? – Do you have a sore throat?
Jag har ont i ryggen. – My back hurts.

A very common mistake for English speakers is saying mitt huvud gör ont or jag har ont i huvud. Swedes almost never use the possessive pronoun (min, mitt) for their own body parts in this context. Instead of "my head," simply say huvudet (the head).

You can also use Swedish compound words for specific ailments, such as huvudvärk (headache) or magont (tummy ache). If you want to learn more about how Swedes build these neat descriptive words, check out our guide to Swedish compound words.

Common Illnesses and Being Sick

When autumn arrives and the weather cools down, conversations about colds and flu become very common. Here are the most useful expressions for being sick:

Jag är förkyld. – I have a cold.
Jag har feber. – I have a fever.
Hon hostar mycket. – She coughs a lot.
Jag stannar hemma idag. – I am staying home today. (You can read more about talking about home life in our article on hem and hemma).

When someone tells you they are under the weather, there is one phrase you must know: Krya på dig! (Get well soon!). You will hear it in offices, messages, and shops whenever someone is sick.

Useful Health Vocabulary

Swedish	English	Example
Hur mår du?	How are you? / How do you feel?	Hej, hur mår du idag? (Hi, how are you feeling today?)
Jag mår bra	I feel well / good	Tack, jag mår bra! (Thanks, I feel good!)
Jag mår illa	I feel nauseous	Jag mår lite illa. (I feel a bit nauseous.)
ha ont i...	to have pain in...	Jag har ont i foten. (My foot hurts.)
förkyld	having a cold	Jag är väldigt förkyld. (I have a bad cold.)
feber	fever	Har barnet feber? (Does the child have a fever?)
en vårdcentral	a health centre / local clinic	Jag måste gå till vårdcentralen. (I must go to the health centre.)
ett apotek	a pharmacy	Var ligger närmaste apotek? (Where is the nearest pharmacy?)
Krya på dig!	Get well soon!	Krya på dig så ses vi nästa vecka! (Get well soon, see you next week!)

Real-Life Health Culture in Sweden

In Sweden, asking Hur mår du? (How are you?) is usually taken more literally than in countries like the United States or the UK. While a quick Hej! or Läget? works as a casual greeting, asking someone Hur mår du? with genuine eye contact signals that you actually care about their answer. Do not be surprised if a Swedish friend or colleague pauses and tells you honestly: Jag är lite trött idag (I am a bit tired today).

If you are sick in Sweden, the system strongly encourages you to stay home and rest rather than pushing through at work. Parents have a special right to stay home with sick children while receiving state benefit—a beloved Swedish cultural concept known as vabba (taking care of a sick child, short for vård av barn).

And if you need non-emergency medical advice, Swedes dial 1177, the national 24-hour healthcare helpline, or visit their local vårdcentral (health centre).

Quick Practice

Test your new knowledge with these three quick exercises.

How do you tell someone your throat hurts using ont?
Choose the right word: "Jag åt för mycket godis, så jag mår ______ (dåligt / illa)."
What is the standard Swedish phrase to say "Get well soon!"?

Answers:

Jag har ont i halsen. (Remember the definite form: halsen, not just hals!)
illa (If your stomach feels sick from eating too much, you feel nauseous: mår illa).
Krya på dig!

Practise this with Kielo

You can practise talking about symptoms, booking a clinic visit, or simply asking friends how they are doing in a Kielo interactive conversation. Add these health terms to your daily review plan so you can speak up with confidence the next time someone asks: Hur mår du idag?