Hon började arbeta när hon var ung.

to be

Breakdown of Hon började arbeta när hon var ung.

• när: when
• hon: she
• arbeta: to work

Questions & Answers about Hon började arbeta när hon var ung.

Why is it började arbeta and not började att arbeta?

After börja (to begin/start), Swedish normally uses the infinitive without att.

• Hon började arbeta = She started to work / She began working

This is similar to some other Swedish verbs that are followed directly by an infinitive, without att.

You may sometimes hear började att arbeta, and it can occur, but började arbeta is the more standard and common pattern in a sentence like this.

What form is började?

Började is the past tense of börja (to begin/start).

The basic forms are:

• börja = infinitive, to begin
• börjar = present tense, begins / is beginning
• började = past tense, began / started
• börjat = supine/past participle form used in perfect constructions

So:

• Hon börjar arbeta = She starts/is starting to work
• Hon började arbeta = She started/began to work

What form is arbeta here?