Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.

Om means if in this sentence.

So:

Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.
= If I drive the car myself, we’ll make it to the meeting.

A useful thing to know is that om can also mean about in other contexts, but here it clearly means if because it introduces a condition.

This is because Swedish follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb normally comes in the second position.

The sentence starts with the subordinate clause:

Om jag kör bilen själv

Then comes the main clause:

hinner vi till mötet

Since the if-clause is placed first, it takes the first position in the sentence, so the finite verb in the main clause, hinner, must come next.

Compare:

Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.
Vi hinner till mötet om jag kör bilen själv.

Both are correct. In the second version, vi comes first, so hinner stays after it.

Hinner is the present tense of hinna, which means something like:

• to have time to
• to manage to in time
• to make it

In this sentence, hinner vi till mötet means:

• we’ll make it to the meeting in time
• we’ll get to the meeting before it starts

It is not just about physical ability. It is specifically about enough time.

For example:

• Jag hinner inte äta. = I don’t have time to eat.
• Hinner du till tåget? = Will you make it to the train in time?

Swedish often uses the present tense to talk about the future when the context makes the future meaning clear.

So:

Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.

literally looks like:

If I drive the car myself, we make it to the meeting.

But the natural English meaning is:

If I drive the car myself, we’ll make it to the meeting.

This is very common in Swedish. You do not need a special future form here.

Here själv means myself or personally.

So jag kör bilen själv means:

• I drive the car myself
• I drive the car personally
• possibly I drive instead of someone else

It adds emphasis to jag.

It does not necessarily mean alone here, although in some contexts själv can overlap with that idea. In this sentence, the most natural meaning is that I am the one driving.

Yes, and changing the position can slightly change the emphasis.

Your sentence has:

Om jag kör bilen själv ...

This sounds natural and means if I drive the car myself.

You could also say:

Om jag själv kör bilen ...

This puts stronger emphasis on I myself as the driver, rather than someone else.

So:

• jag kör bilen själv = emphasis on doing the driving myself
• jag själv kör bilen = stronger emphasis on I myself

Both are possible, but the original sentence is very natural.

Bilen means the car. The ending -en is the definite article attached to the noun.

So:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car

In the sentence, bilen suggests a specific car that both speakers already know about.

This is very normal in Swedish, where definiteness is often shown by a suffix:

• ett möte = a meeting
• mötet = the meeting

Till mötet means to the meeting — that is, moving in the direction of it or arriving there.

• till = to
• mötet = the meeting

So hinner vi till mötet means will we get to the meeting in time.

Compare:

• till mötet = to the meeting (arrival)
• på mötet = at the meeting (location/event presence)

Example:

• Vi hinner till mötet. = We’ll make it to the meeting.
• Vi är på mötet. = We are at the meeting.

Yes, absolutely.

This version is also correct:

Vi hinner till mötet om jag kör bilen själv.

The meaning is basically the same. The difference is mainly one of word order and focus:

• Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.
  Focuses first on the condition.
• Vi hinner till mötet om jag kör bilen själv.
  Starts with the result, then gives the condition.

Both are natural Swedish.

Here kör clearly means drive.

It is the present tense of köra, which often means:

• to drive a vehicle
• to operate/run something
• in some contexts, even go ahead or start

But in jag kör bilen, the meaning is simply I drive the car.

Because Swedish often does not need one.

English commonly says:

we’ll make it to the meeting

Swedish often just uses the present tense:

vi hinner till mötet

The future meaning comes from context — especially because the sentence is about a condition and a likely future result.

Swedish can use future-marking expressions like ska or kommer att, but they are not necessary here.

Yes, this is a basic conditional sentence.

The structure here is:

Om + clause, main clause

In your example:

Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.

This is a very common Swedish pattern, just like English If ..., ...

For real or likely situations, Swedish often uses the present tense in both parts:

• Om du kommer nu, hinner vi.
  = If you come now, we’ll make it.

For more hypothetical or unreal situations, Swedish often uses past forms and words like skulle:

• Om jag körde bilen själv, skulle vi hinna till mötet.
  = If I drove the car myself, we would make it to the meeting.

So your original sentence is the more direct, likely, everyday type.

A native speaker would usually stress the most important information, often something like:

Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.

Possible emphasis:

• jag / själv if the point is that I should drive
• hinner if the point is making it in time
• mötet if the meeting is the important destination

For example:

• Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.
  = If I drive, not someone else, we’ll make it.
• Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.
  = We’ll actually make it in time.
• Om jag kör bilen själv, hinner vi till mötet.
  = We’ll make it to the meeting specifically.

So the exact stress depends on what the speaker wants to highlight.