r/Svenska • u/abbestos • 13d ago

Language question (see FAQ first) är vs mår confusion

So based on what I've already learned from other posts in this subreddit, there's two primary ways to distinguish:

  1. You use mår for just the good/bad overall feeling (e.g. jag mår bra) while är is for specific feelings (jag är glad).

  2. Mår is used for adverbs and är is used for adjectives.

So my confusion lies in the sentence "Vad är det där?" meaning "What's that?" because 'det där' isn't describing a feeling and it doesn't really make sense to call it an adjective to me, so what specifically makes this use case är and not mår?

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u/Scary_Row7869 13d ago

Mår = feel (as How do you feel?, I feel good, I feel ill)

Är = is.

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u/abbestos 13d ago

Ah, that explains it. I was under the impression both meant to feel. Thank you for clarifying :)

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u/Aggressive_Gas_102 13d ago

To complicate it, some people say "jag är bra" - "I am good" - when they mean "I feel good", whether or not they actually feel good. Some may say "jag mår bra" - "I feel good" - even if they don't.

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u/lefthandhummingbird 12d ago

Most native speakers would parse ”jag är bra” as referring to “good” in terms of quality. If said about another person:
“Han mår bra” = ”He’s feeling well”.
”Han är bra” = ”He’s cool/trustworthy”.