Learn Hardcore Swedish: Vår bokning var billig, och dessutom fick vi frukost gratis. - Our booking was cheap, and in addition we got breakfast for free.

bokning is an en-word (common gender): en bokning
For vår (our), the forms are:
- vår – with en-words (common gender singular)
- vårt – with ett-words (neuter singular)
- våra – with plural nouns

So you get:

vår bokning – our booking
vårt rum – our room (ett rum)
våra biljetter – our tickets

Because bokning is an en-word, vår is the correct form, not vårt.

Why is it vår bokning and not vår bokningen even though in English we say “our the booking”?

In Swedish, a possessive pronoun replaces the definite article, so you normally:

Do not add the -en / -et / -na definite ending to the noun
Do not use den / det / de with a possessive

So:

vår bokning = our booking / our reservation
(literally “our booking”, but this is already understood as the one that is ours)

You would not say:

✗ vår bokningen

If you wanted to say “that booking of ours” you’d use a demonstrative instead, e.g.:

den där bokningen vår (colloquial, a bit emphatic)

But in normal standard use, it’s simply vår bokning.

Why is the adjective billig and not billigt or billiga?

Adjectives in Swedish agree with the noun’s gender and number, even in the pattern “X var adjektiv”.

The pattern here is:

Noun: bokning – en-word, singular
Linking verb: var (was)
Adjective: must match en-word singular

Forms of billig:

billig – with en-word, singular:
- en billig bokning, bokningen var billig
billigt – with ett-word, singular:
- ett billigt rum, rummet var billigt
billiga – with plural nouns (both genders):
- billiga bokningar, bokningarna var billiga

Because bokning is an en-word, singular, we need billig.

Why is there a comma before och dessutom? I thought Swedish often avoids commas before och.

You’re right that Swedish usually does not put a comma before och when it just links two simple clauses:

Jag kom hem och jag åt middag. (normally no comma)

However, in your sentence the writer has chosen to insert a comma to mark a clear pause and contrast:

Vår bokning var billig, och dessutom fick vi frukost gratis.

Here, the comma is:

Optional from a modern grammar point of view
Used for rhythm/emphasis, showing that the second part is an extra bonus on top of the first

You could also write, perfectly correctly:

Vår bokning var billig och dessutom fick vi frukost gratis.

Both are acceptable; the comma is more stylistic than strictly required.

What exactly does dessutom mean, and where can it go in the sentence?

dessutom means roughly “in addition”, “on top of that”, “what’s more”.

In terms of position:

It can come first in the clause, which then triggers verb-second word order:
- Dessutom fick vi frukost gratis.
- (Then the verb fick must come immediately after dessutom.)
It can come after the subject:
- Vi fick dessutom frukost gratis.
It can be placed later in the clause for emphasis, but positions 1 and 2 are the most natural.

In your sentence after och:

och dessutom fick vi frukost gratis
is: [conjunction] + [adverb] + [verb] + [subject]…

You could also say:

…och vi fick dessutom frukost gratis.
(slightly more neutral, focusing first on we got breakfast, then adding “in addition”)

Why is it fick vi frukost and not vi fick frukost after dessutom?

This is the verb-second rule (V2) in Swedish main clauses.

In a main clause:

The finite verb (here fick) must be in second position.
The first position can be the subject, or some other element (time, adverb, object, etc.).

In dessutom fick vi frukost gratis:

First element: dessutom (adverb)
Second element: fick (finite verb)
Then: vi (subject)
Then: frukost gratis

That is why you cannot say:

✗ Dessutom vi fick frukost gratis. (wrong word order)

If you want vi before the verb, then vi must be in first position:

Vi fick dessutom frukost gratis.

What does the verb fick come from, and what does få mean in this context?

fick is the past tense of the verb få.

Basic forms of få:

få – infinitive (to get / receive / be allowed to)
får – present (get / receive / am allowed to)
fick – preterite / simple past (got / received / was allowed to)
fått – supine (has/have gotten)

In your sentence:

fick vi frukost gratis
= we got / received breakfast for free

Here få clearly has the meaning “to receive”, not “to be allowed to”.

Why is there no article with frukost? Why not en frukost or frukosten?

Names of meals in Swedish are usually used without an article when you mean the meal in a general, routine sense:

Vi åt frukost. – We ate breakfast.
Jag missade lunchen. / Jag missade lunch. – Both can occur, but bare lunch is common.

In your sentence:

vi fick frukost gratis
means “we got breakfast for free” as a general meal included in the booking.

You might use an article in other meanings:

en frukost – a breakfast (as a countable event or portion)
- en frukost för två personer – a breakfast for two people
frukosten – the (specific) breakfast
- Frukosten var god. – The breakfast was good.

Here, the hotel includes breakfast as a service; the bare frukost is the natural choice.

Why is gratis at the end? Could it be placed earlier?

gratis is an adverb/adjective meaning “free (of charge)”.

In vi fick frukost gratis, the most neutral and common order in Swedish is:

vi (subject)
fick (verb)
frukost (object)
gratis (adverb describing how we got it)

You can move gratis a bit, but some positions sound more natural than others:

Vi fick frukost gratis. – very natural
Vi fick gratis frukost. – also possible; now gratis clearly modifies frukost, like “free breakfast” as a unit
Gratis fick vi frukost. – possible but marked, very emphatic/stylistic

In your sentence, …fick vi frukost gratis emphasizes that the breakfast we got was free, and puts a little punch at the very end of the clause.

Could you rephrase this sentence in other natural ways in Swedish, and do they change the nuance?

Yes, here are a few natural variants and what they emphasize:

Vår bokning var billig och vi fick dessutom frukost gratis.
- Moves dessutom after vi.
- Slightly more neutral; focuses first on we got breakfast, then adds in addition.
Vår bokning var billig. Dessutom fick vi frukost gratis.
- Splits into two sentences.
- Makes the second part feel more like an extra, separate bonus.
Vår bokning var billig och frukosten ingick dessutom.
- “Our booking was cheap and the breakfast was included as well.”
- Uses ingick (was included); more like formal/hotel language.
Vår bokning var billig och vi fick frukosten gratis.
- Adds the definite frukosten = the breakfast.
- Refers to a specific breakfast (e.g. the hotel breakfast) rather than breakfast in general.
- Slight nuance change: more specific, but still natural in context.

All are grammatically correct; the original version is a very natural way to say it.