What you will learn
You can ask and answer questions about the past, and say what did not happen.
Questions and answers
| Question | Answer | English |
|---|---|---|
| Vad gjorde du i helgen? | Jag handlade och vilade. | What did you do at the weekend? I went shopping and rested. |
| Var var ni i lördags? | Vi var på stranden. | Where were you last Saturday? We were at the beach. |
| Hur var det? | Det var skönt. | How was it? It was nice. |
| När kom ni hem? | Klockan nio. | When did you get home? At nine. |
| Varför kom du inte? | Jag var sjuk. | Why did you not come? I was ill. |
| Jobbade du i går? | Nej, jag var ledig. | Did you work yesterday? No, I was off. |
A question word comes first, then the past form, then the subject, just as in the present. A yes or no question starts with the past form, as in Jobbade du i går? Swedish does not use gjorde to build a question. Gjorde is the past form of göra, to do, so Vad gjorde du? asks what you did.
Varför means why. The answer is a plain statement, as in Jag var sjuk.
With a past verb, i helgen is the weekend that has just passed.
Var is both where and was. In Var var ni? the first var asks where, and the second means were.
Not and never
Inte and aldrig come right after the past form, as in Bussen kom inte and Hugo ringde aldrig. In a question, they come after a subject such as du, as in Varför kom du inte? After a name, they can also come before it, as in Varför ringde inte Hugo?
Short answers
In speech you will often hear short answers such as Ja, det gjorde jag and Nej, det var jag inte. You only need to understand them for now.
Common mistakes
| Not like this | Like this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Vad du gjorde i helgen? | Vad gjorde du i helgen? | The verb comes right after vad. |
| Gjorde du jobba i går? | Jobbade du i går? | Start with the past form of the verb itself. |
| Varför du kom inte? | Varför kom du inte? | The verb comes right after varför. |