Perfect and Past Perfect

What is perfect?

Swedish has two tenses that use the verb ha together with the supine form of the main verb.

Perfect

The perfect is formed with har (present tense of ha) + supine:

Jag har jobbat idag.Ich habe heute gearbeitet.

Hon har läst boken.Sie hat das Buch gelesen.

The perfect often connects a past action to the present, where the resulting state is still true.

Jag har tappat mina nycklar.Ich habe meine Schlüssel verloren. (and they are still lost)

Vi har bott i Sverige i 4 år.Wir wohnen seit 4 Jahren in Schweden. (and we're still living there)

Hon har tagit studenten.Sie hat ihren schwedischen Gymnasialabschluss gemacht. (and that acquired state still applies)

Past perfect

The past perfect, or pluskvamperfekt, is formed with hade (the past tense, preteritum, of ha) + supine:

Jag hade jobbat hela dagen.Ich hatte den ganzen Tag gearbeitet.

Hon hade läst boken innan filmen kom.Sie hatte das Buch gelesen, bevor der Film herauskam.

The past perfect places something before another point in the past in combination with preteritum.

När jag kom fram hade hon redan gått.Als ich ankam, war sie schon gegangen.

Då vi gick ut hade det slutat regna.Als wir nach draußen gingen, hatte es aufgehört zu regnen.

Supine

Supine, or supinum, is similar but not exactly the same as the participle form of the verb, particip, and is only used in perfect constructions. It is often constructed by adding a -t to the stem, except for strong verbs, which get -it or -at.

jobba → jobbat

läsa → läst

skriva → skrivit