Breakdown of Jag kommer hem klockan nio och dricker te.
Questions & Answers about Jag kommer hem klockan nio och dricker te.
Why does Swedish use kommer here—doesn’t it mean both come and will?
Kommer primarily means come. Swedish often uses the present tense to talk about the future when a time expression makes it clear, so Jag kommer hem klockan nio can mean I’m coming home at nine / I’ll come home at nine.
If you want to emphasize intention or certainty, you might add ska (plan) or kommer att (prediction), but the plain present is very common.
Why is it kommer hem and not something like kommer till hem?
Hem is an adverb meaning (to) home (motion toward home). It commonly pairs with verbs of motion: gå hem, åka hem, komma hem.
Till is used with a destination noun phrase (often with a possessive): Jag kommer till mitt hem sounds formal/odd in everyday speech, while Jag kommer hem is the natural choice.
What does hem count as grammatically—noun or something else?
In this sentence hem functions as an adverb (directional adverb).
Swedish also has the noun ett hem meaning a home, but that’s a different word class/usage.
Why is there no change in the verb ending for Jag—and would it change with other subjects?
Swedish verbs do not conjugate by person. The present tense ends in -r for most verbs regardless of subject:
- Jag kommer, du kommer, han/hon kommer, vi kommer, de kommer
Same with dricker: jag dricker, de dricker, etc.
Do we need to repeat the subject in the second part—why not Jag kommer … och jag dricker …?
When two verbs share the same subject, Swedish commonly omits the second subject: Jag kommer hem … och dricker te.
You can repeat jag for emphasis or contrast, but normally it’s left out.
Is the word order fixed—can klockan nio move?
It can move, but Swedish has V2 word order in main clauses (the finite verb stays in the second position). Common options are:
- Jag kommer hem klockan nio och dricker te.
- Klockan nio kommer jag hem och dricker te. (time first for focus)
If you start with klockan nio, the verb kommer still has to be second, so kommer jag follows.
Why is it klockan nio and not just nio?
Klockan nio is the standard way to say at nine o’clock.
In casual speech you might sometimes hear just nio, but klockan nio is clearer and more neutral.
What’s the difference between klockan nio and vid nio?
- klockan nio = exactly/straightforwardly at nine o’clock
- vid nio = around nine / at about nine (less exact)
Why is there no article before te?
Swedish often omits an article with mass nouns when speaking generally: dricker te = drink tea.
If you mean a specific serving, you might say:
- dricker ett te (less common; more like a tea as an item/order)
- dricker lite te (some tea)
- dricker teet (the tea, definite)
Does dricker te mean a habit, or a one-time action?
Do the two actions happen in sequence—first coming home, then drinking tea?
Usually yes: kommer hem … och dricker te is naturally understood as I come home and (then) drink tea.
But Swedish och doesn’t strictly encode sequence; context does. If you want to make the sequence extra explicit, you could add something like sedan (then).
Should there be a comma before och?
Can I write it with a time abbreviation like kl. 9?
Yes. In writing you can use kl. 9 or kl 9 (style-dependent) as a shorthand for klockan 9:
Jag kommer hem kl. 9 och dricker te.
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