Learn Hardcore Swedish: Till slut går vi hem och lägger oss.

The finite verb (here: går) must always be in second position in the sentence.
The first position can be the subject (vi) or something else, like an adverbial (till slut, idag, kanske, etc.).

So in your sentence:

Till slut = first element (an adverbial: in the end/finally).
går = second element (the finite verb, must come here).
vi hem och lägger oss = the rest of the clause.

That’s why “Till slut går vi …” is correct, and “Till slut vi går …” is ungrammatical in standard Swedish: in the second version, the verb is no longer in second place.

Can I also say “Vi går hem till slut” instead of “Till slut går vi hem …”? Is there any difference?

Yes, “Vi går hem till slut” is grammatically correct, and it means basically the same thing.

The differences are mainly in style and emphasis:

Till slut går vi hem …
– More typical, especially in storytelling.
– Emphasizes the time frame / end of events right away.
– Feels a bit more “narrative”: In the end, we go home and…
Vi går hem till slut.
– Also correct.
– Slightly more neutral; the focus starts on vi går hem and then adds till slut as an afterthought: …(and) in the end.

Both are used. You’ll probably see “Till slut …” at the beginning more often in written narrative Swedish.

What’s the difference between till slut, slutligen, and äntligen?

All three can be translated as something like finally or in the end, but they have different nuances:

till slut
- Very common in speech and writing.
- Neutral: after a process / after some time, something finally happens.
- Fits the meaning of “eventually / in the end” very well.
- Example: Till slut går vi hem. – In the end we go home.
slutligen
- More formal, often used in presentations, essays, structured speech.
- Often means finally / lastly in a list or sequence of points.
- Example: Slutligen vill jag tacka er alla. – Finally, I would like to thank you all.
äntligen
- Means finally, at last with a strong feeling of relief or impatience.
- You’ve been waiting for this, maybe annoyed that it took so long.
- Example: Äntligen går vi hem! – Finally we’re going home (at last!).

In “Till slut går vi hem och lägger oss”, till slut is the natural choice because it’s a neutral “in the end / eventually” rather than emotional relief.

Why is går used here? Does gå always mean “to walk”?

Literally, gå means “to walk”, but in Swedish it’s also used more broadly as “to go”, especially in some fixed expressions.

In “gå hem”, it often just means “go home”, not necessarily on foot. It’s very idiomatic.
If you specifically want to say you go by vehicle, you’d usually use åka:
- Vi åker hem. – We go home (by car/bus/train etc.).

So:

Vi går hem.
– Could be literally we walk home, but very often just we (now) go home.
Vi åker hem.
– More explicitly we go home by some means of transport.

In your sentence, går is completely natural and doesn’t force the image of walking unless the context makes that clear.

Why is it “hem” without a preposition? Why not “till hem” or “till hemma”?

Swedish uses different forms for “home” depending on whether it’s direction or location:

Direction (to home) → hem
- Vi går hem. – We go home.
- No preposition is needed; hem itself already means to home.
Location (at home) → hemma
- Vi är hemma. – We are at home.

So:

❌ till hem – sounds wrong in Swedish; native speakers don’t say this.
❌ till hemma – also wrong; you don’t put till in front of hemma.

Just remember:

gå / åka hem = go home
vara hemma = be at home

What exactly is the difference between hem and hemma?

The difference is motion vs. location:

hem = to home, towards home (movement)
- Jag går hem. – I’m going home.
- Kom hem! – Come (back) home!
hemma = at home (place, no movement)
- Jag är hemma. – I’m at home.
- Vi sitter hemma och tittar på film. – We’re sitting at home watching a movie.

This pattern (one form for direction, another for location) appears in other Swedish word pairs too, like:

in (direction) vs inne (location)
ut (direction) vs ute (location)

Why is it “lägger oss” and not just “lägger”?

Because lägga sig is a reflexive verb in Swedish, and it needs a reflexive pronoun that matches the subject.

lägga = to lay / to put (something down)
- Needs a direct object: Jag lägger boken på bordet. – I put the book on the table.
lägga sig = to lie down / to go to bed
- The subject performs the action on themselves, so you need a reflexive pronoun:
  - Jag lägger mig. – I lie down / go to bed.
  - Du lägger dig. – You lie down.
  - Han/Hon lägger sig. – He/She lies down.
  - Vi lägger oss. – We lie down.
  - Ni lägger er. – You (pl.) lie down.
  - De lägger sig. – They lie down.

In your sentence, the subject is vi, so the correct reflexive pronoun is oss:

… och lägger oss. – … and (we) lie down / go to bed.

What does “lägga sig” literally mean, and how is it different from “sova”?

Literally:

lägga sig = to lay oneself down
→ idiomatically: to lie down / to go to bed
sova = to sleep

So:

Nu lägger vi oss. – Now we’re going to bed / lying down.
(The action of getting into bed or lying down.)
Nu sover vi. – Now we’re sleeping.
(The state of being asleep.)

In everyday speech, lägga sig is what you do before you sleep:

Jag lägger mig vid elva och sover vid tolv.
– I go to bed at eleven and (am) asleep by twelve.

Why is “vi” written only once, before “går”, but not again before “lägger oss”?

Because both verbs share the same subject.

The structure is:

Till slut går vi hem och lägger oss.
= Till slut [går vi hem] och [lägger oss].

In English you might say:

In the end we go home and (we) go to bed.

You don’t have to repeat we in English, and you don’t have to repeat vi in Swedish either. The subject “vi” applies to both verbs connected by och.

You could technically say “Till slut går vi hem och vi lägger oss”, but it sounds heavy and unnatural here. Native speakers only repeat the subject if they really need to emphasize or clarify something.

The verbs are in the present tense (går, lägger). Can this sentence talk about the past or the future?

Yes. Swedish present tense can be used in several ways:

Real present (now / generally):
- Till slut går vi hem och lägger oss.
  – In the end we (now) go home and go to bed.
Future meaning (planned future, like English “we’re going home”):
- In context: Till slut går vi hem och lägger oss (ikväll).
  – In the end we’ll go home and go to bed (tonight).
Historical / narrative present (telling a past story in a vivid way):
- When telling a story:
  Först är vi på festen, sedan dansar vi, och till slut går vi hem och lägger oss.
  – First we’re at the party, then we dance, and in the end we go home and go to bed.
  (But the whole thing happened in the past.)

The exact time reference usually comes from context, not from the tense alone.

How would this sentence look in the past tense?

To put it in the simple past (preterite), you change both verbs:

Till slut gick vi hem och lade oss.

Details:

går → gick (past of gå)
lägger → lade (past of lägga)
oss stays the same.

Meaning: In the end we went home and went to bed / lay down.

Could I use “och sover” instead of “och lägger oss”? What would be the difference?

You can say “och sover”, but the meaning changes:

och lägger oss
– Focuses on the action of going to bed / lying down.
och sover
– Focuses on the state of being asleep.

For example:

Till slut går vi hem och lägger oss.
– We go home and (then) go to bed / lie down.
Till slut går vi hem och sover.
– We go home and (then) sleep.

In everyday Swedish, if you want to say “go to bed”, lägga sig is more natural than using sova.