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.I have worked today.

Hon har läst boken.She has read the book.

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

Jag har tappat mina nycklar.I have lost my keys. (and they are still lost)

Vi har bott i Sverige i 4 år.We have lived in Sweden for 4 years. (and we're still living there)

Hon har tagit studenten.She has graduated from upper secondary school. (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.I had worked all day.

Hon hade läst boken innan filmen kom.She had read the book before the film came out.

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

När jag kom fram hade hon redan gått.When I arrived, she had already left.

Då vi gick ut hade det slutat regna.When we went outside, it had stopped raining.

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