Breakdown of Jag brukar dricka kaffe på morgonen.
Questions & Answers about Jag brukar dricka kaffe på morgonen.
Brukar is a verb (att bruka) that works somewhat like a modal verb meaning “usually / generally / tend to”.
- Jag brukar dricka kaffe ≈ “I usually drink coffee / I tend to drink coffee.”
- It talks about a habit in general, not one specific time.
It is not the same as English “used to” in the past. For past habits, you use the past form brukade:
- Jag brukade dricka kaffe på morgonen. = “I used to drink coffee in the morning (but not anymore / not necessarily now).”
After brukar, the next verb stays in the infinitive form (the “dictionary form”, usually ending in -a):
- Jag brukar dricka kaffe.
– brukar = conjugated verb
– dricka = infinitive
This is similar to English “I like to drink coffee” (not “I like drink”).
If you don’t use brukar, you conjugate the main verb instead:
- Jag dricker kaffe på morgonen. = “I drink coffee in the morning.”
Both can describe a habit, but there’s a nuance:
Jag brukar dricka kaffe på morgonen.
Emphasizes that this is your usual habit, but it leaves room for exceptions. It’s like saying “I usually / generally drink coffee in the morning.”Jag dricker kaffe på morgonen.
More neutral. It can also describe a habit, but doesn’t explicitly highlight “usually”. It can sound more like a simple fact: “I drink coffee in the morning.”
In everyday speech, both are fine. Brukar + infinitive makes the habitual nature extra clear.
På morgonen means “in the morning” (as a time of day).
- på is the normal preposition for parts of the day in these general time expressions:
- på morgonen – in the morning
- på dagen – in the daytime
- på kvällen – in the evening
- på natten – at night
Be careful: i morgon (two words) means “tomorrow”, not “in the morning”.
So:
- Jag brukar dricka kaffe på morgonen. = I usually drink coffee in the morning.
- Jag dricker kaffe i morgon. = I’ll drink coffee tomorrow.
Swedish often uses the definite singular for general, repeated time periods such as parts of the day:
- på morgonen – in the morning
- på kvällen – in the evening
- på sommaren – in (the) summer (in general)
So på morgonen literally is “on the morning”, but it’s understood as a general time of day, like English “in the morning” when talking about a routine.
Using just morgon without the article (på morgon) is not standard here; the natural idiom is på morgonen.
Yes, you can say both, and both are correct:
- på morgonen – literally “in the morning” (definite singular)
- på morgnarna – literally “in the mornings” (definite plural)
Nuance:
på morgonen is the most common way to talk about your general morning routine:
- Jag brukar dricka kaffe på morgonen.
på morgnarna emphasizes the idea of each morning / every morning, and can sound a bit more explicit or slightly more formal/literary:
- Jag dricker kaffe på morgnarna. = I drink coffee (on) mornings / I drink coffee in the mornings.
In everyday speech about habits, på morgonen is often preferred.
In Swedish, kaffe is usually treated as a mass noun (like “coffee” in English in “I drink coffee”):
- Jag brukar dricka kaffe. = I usually drink coffee.
You only use an article if you are talking about a specific unit or a particular coffee:
- ett kaffe – one coffee (for example, when ordering a coffee as an item)
- Jag tog ett kaffe på caféet. = I had a coffee at the café.
In the sentence Jag brukar dricka kaffe på morgonen, you’re talking about coffee in general as a substance, therefore no article.
Yes, that word order is completely correct:
- På morgonen brukar jag dricka kaffe.
Swedish has the V2 rule (the finite verb is in second position), so when you put the time expression på morgonen first, the conjugated verb brukar must come second, and then the subject jag:
- På morgonen – (first element)
- brukar – (verb in second position)
- jag – (subject)
- dricka kaffe – rest of the sentence
Meaning is almost the same, but:
- Jag brukar dricka kaffe på morgonen. – neutral word order, slight focus on what you usually do.
- På morgonen brukar jag dricka kaffe. – emphasizes the time (“In the morning, I usually drink coffee”).
Both are very natural.
Yes. Brukar + infinitive is a general pattern to talk about habits or things you usually do.
Examples:
Jag brukar läsa innan jag somnar.
I usually read before I fall asleep.Brukar du träna på gymmet?
Do you usually work out at the gym?Hon brukar komma för sent.
She usually arrives late.Vi brukar åka till landet på sommaren.
We usually go to the countryside in the summer.
In all of these, brukar is conjugated, and the next verb is in the infinitive.
For a past habit, use the past tense of bruka:
- Jag brukade dricka kaffe på morgonen.
= I used to drink coffee in the morning.
You can also express a past routine with the simple past:
- Jag drack kaffe på morgonen (förr).
= I drank coffee in the morning (before / in the past).
Nuance:
- Jag brukade dricka… highlights that it was a regular habit that probably no longer applies.
- Jag drack kaffe… can also describe a habit if the context makes that clear, but doesn’t itself contain the “usually” idea as strongly as brukade.
Approximate pronunciation (Swedish varies by region; this is a common standard):
brukar – [ˈbrʉːkar]
- br as in English “br”
- u is a fronted [ʉː], between English u in rude and ee in reed
- Stress on the first syllable: BRU-kar
dricka – [ˈdrɪka]
- dri like “dr” + short i as in sit
- ck is just [k]
- Stress on DRI: DRI-cka
kaffe – [ˈkafːɛ]
- kaff like “kaf” with a long [fː]
- Final e is [ɛ], like e in bed
- Stress on the first syllable: KAF-fe
morgonen – [ˈmɔrːɡɔnɛn] (approx.)
- mor with an o like in British more but shorter
- Double r is often a bit longer or stronger
- g is a hard [ɡ] here
- The final -en is clearly pronounced [ɛn]
- Stress on MOR: MOR-go-nen
All main content words here (brukar, dricka, kaffe, morgonen) carry stress on their first syllable, which is typical in Swedish.