{"id":9329,"date":"2021-07-16T02:02:23","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T02:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=9329"},"modified":"2021-07-16T02:02:23","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T02:02:23","slug":"navigating-between-swedish-past-and-perfect-tense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/navigating-between-swedish-past-and-perfect-tense\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Between Swedish Past and Perfect Tense"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Photo by Tushar Mahajan from Pexels<\/p><\/div>\n

Memorizing and conjugating Swedish verbs needs to be more than just busywork. Learning how to use one tense over another is more important. To illustrate this point, we\u2019re going to navigate the difference between the <\/span>preteritum<\/span><\/i> (past) and <\/span>perfekt <\/span><\/i>(perfect) tenses, and then how to use them together. So grab your favorite verb chart and let\u2019s go!<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Tenses Vary from Swedish to English<\/span><\/h2>\n

As a Swedish language student, you know by now that literal translations from Swedish won’t get you very far. Oftentimes, Swedes use a different tense altogether than what seems appropriate in comparison to your mother tongue. One of the best instances of this is “<\/span>I was born in<\/span><\/i>\u2026”\u00a0 W<\/em><\/span>as<\/span><\/i> is used here to describe a birth as a complete action. “I was<\/strong> born in Sweden.”<\/em> However, a Swede considers this a present tense sentence “<\/span>Jag \u00e4r<\/strong> f\u00f6dd i Sverige<\/span><\/i>.” When speaking English, Swedes often directly translate this using present tense and make the mistake of saying, \u201cI am<\/strong><\/span> born in Sweden.<\/em>\u201d (*OBS svenskar<\/em>!)<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Another demonstration of this idea highlights our two verb tenses of the day: preteritum<\/em> (past) and perfekt<\/em> (perfect). On average, Swedish speakers tend to use the perfect tense much more than English speakers. When an English speaker would ask, \u201cWhat happened?<\/em>\u201d a Swede is more likely to use the perfect tense to say \u201cVad har h\u00e4nt?<\/em>\u201d (what has happened). <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span>As you\u2019ve noticed, we\u2019re moving past the present tense, so if you aren’t totally comfortable with Swedish the basic verb groups and their conjugations, review these resources before moving further:
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Swedish Verb Roulette Featuring “201 Swedish Verbs”<\/a>
\nPreteritum \u2013 the Swedish Past Tense<\/a>
\nFun with Swedish Grammar\u2013 Perfect Perfekt<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Swedish Past and Perfect Tenses – Let’s Review<\/span><\/h2>\n

Both the past and the perfect tenses describe past actions. But they differ slightly. Simply put, the past is used to describe a time frame or action that is totally complete.<\/strong> Think yesterday:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Helena skrattade<\/strong> \u00e5t mig ig\u00e5r<\/strong>. <\/span><\/i>\u00a0Helena laughed<\/strong> at me yesterday<\/strong>.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>*Yesterday is the complete time frame so the past tense is best here for this context.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vi spelade<\/strong> tennis n\u00e4r vi var<\/strong> sm\u00e5.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 We played<\/strong> tennis when we were<\/strong> little.<\/span><\/p>\n

*Here, we played tennis but don’t do it anymore.
\n
\n<\/span>Now, enter the (simple) perfect tense. This is used in a few different ways, but mainly when we are referring to a nondescript time frame or an action that is ongoing, incomplete. We use the helping verb har<\/em> (have) and the supine form of the verb. For example:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Helena har<\/strong> inte skrattat<\/strong> \u00e4n idag.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 Helena has<\/strong> not laughed<\/strong> yet today.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>*Today, is still happening, the time frame is incomplete. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Helena har<\/strong> bott<\/strong> i Lund i 8 \u00e5r.<\/span><\/i> Helena has<\/strong> lived<\/strong> in Lund for 8 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

*We use perfect here because Helena continues to live in Lund.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perfect Tense: What have<\/strong> you done?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Remember the game \u201cHave you ever\u2026?\u201d Perfect is the tense you need to succeed here. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Har du varit i USA?<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Have you been to the U.S.?<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Har du n\u00e5gonsin \u00e4tit surstr\u00f6mming?<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Have you ever eaten sour herring? <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Har du t\u00e4nkt att flytta tillbaka till Ume\u00e5?<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0Have you thought of moving back to Ume\u00e5?<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Using Swedish Past and Perfect Tenses in Harmony<\/span><\/h2>\n

This can be harder than you think. Perhaps you are accustomed to your instructor telling you to pick a tense and stick with it. This is true when writing a film synopsis, or retelling your weekend plans, but don\u2019t let tenses limit you. The best way to jump between tenses is to start with this sequence*:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 PERFEKT\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/b>PRETERITUM<\/b>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Vad har du gjort i ditt liv?\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 N\u00e4r gjorde du det? <\/b><\/em>
\n<\/span>What have you done in your life?\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 When did you do it\u2026.?<\/b>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span>Jag har bott i ett annat land.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jag bodde i Kanada fr\u00e5n 2005 till 2010. <\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span>I have lived in another country.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I lived in Canada from 2005 to 2010.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Jag har l\u00e4rt mig svenska.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Jag l\u00e4rde mig svenska i skolan.<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span>I have learned Swedish.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I learned Swedish in school.
\n<\/span>
\nYou can also answer the preteritum<\/em> column using the Swedish kortsvar<\/em> (short answer form). See below:<\/span><\/p>\n

Jag har firat Midsommar i Finland.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Det gjorde<\/strong> jag i 2018.\u00a0<\/em>
\nI have celebrated Midsommar in Finland.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I did<\/strong> it in 2018.<\/p>\n

Cycle back and forth between describing something you have done<\/strong> using perfect and the complete details of what you did<\/strong> using past tense. Don’t forget to practice asking questions using both forms:<\/p>\n

Har du sjungit karaoke?\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Var sj\u00f6ng du karaoke?<\/em>
\nHave you sung karaoke?\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Where did you sing karaoke?<\/p>\n

Work through all the verb groups as you practice flexing between these forms. Questions? Drop them in the comments below!<\/p>\n

*The past and perfect sequence exercise is adapted from Form i fokus: \u00f6vningsbok i svensk grammatik – del B. 1997. Fasth and Kannermark, page 56.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Memorizing and conjugating Swedish verbs needs to be more than just busywork. Learning how to use one tense over another is more important. To illustrate this point, we\u2019re going to navigate the difference between the preteritum (past) and perfekt (perfect) tenses, and then how to use them together. So grab your favorite verb chart and…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":9330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,6,3079,13],"tags":[364864,8,3269,8239,364872,34680,364865],"class_list":["post-9329","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-grammar","category-swedish-language","category-vocabulary","tag-grammar","tag-language","tag-learn-swedish","tag-swedish-culture","tag-swedish-language","tag-swedish-vocabulary","tag-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9329"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9335,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9329\/revisions\/9335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}