Efter flytten tappade hon kontakten med några gamla vänner, men med Sara har hon fortfarande nära kontakt.

Efter flytten means after the move.

Here, efter is a preposition meaning after, and flytten is the noun the move.

Swedish often begins a sentence with a time expression like this to set the scene. It works a lot like English:

• Efter flytten tappade hon kontakten ...
• After the move, she lost touch ...

So this opening tells us when the rest happened.

Flytt means move as a noun, while flytten means the move.

The definite form is used because it refers to a specific move that both speaker and listener can identify from context. In English, we also usually say after the move, not just after move.

So:

• en flytt = a move
• flytten = the move

Yes. Flytten comes from the verb flytta, which means to move.

This is very common in Swedish: a verb can have a related noun.

• flytta = to move
• en flytt = a move
• flytten = the move

So Efter flytten literally contains the noun version of the action.

This is an idiomatic expression meaning she lost touch with.

Word by word, it looks like:

• tappade = lost / dropped
• kontakten = the contact
• med = with

But you should learn tappa kontakten med någon as a fixed phrase:

• tappa kontakten med någon = to lose touch with someone

It is much more natural to understand it as one expression than to translate each word separately.

Because the idiom is normally tappa kontakten med någon.

In this expression, Swedish usually uses the definite form kontakten. Even though English says lose touch, Swedish says something closer to lose the contact.

So this is best treated as a set phrase:

• tappa kontakten med en vän = lose touch with a friend

By contrast, in the second clause you get ha kontakt med någon, where kontakt is usually indefinite.

This means with some old friends.

Breakdown:

• med = with
• några = some
• gamla = old / former / long-time
• vänner = friends

Here gamla vänner does not necessarily mean elderly friends. It usually means friends from earlier in life or long-standing friends, depending on context.

So några gamla vänner means she lost touch with some of those older/longtime friends, not necessarily all of them.

Swedish often moves something to the front of the clause for emphasis or contrast.

So:

• men med Sara har hon fortfarande nära kontakt means something like
• but with Sara, she still has close contact

Fronting med Sara makes the contrast stronger:

• she lost touch with some old friends,
• but with Sara things are different.

This is very natural Swedish.

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

In the second clause, med Sara has been placed first. Once that happens, the verb must come next:

• med Sara = first element
• har = second element
• hon = subject after the verb

So:

• Hon har fortfarande nära kontakt med Sara = neutral order
• Med Sara har hon fortfarande nära kontakt = fronted for contrast/emphasis

Both are grammatical, but the sentence you have emphasizes Sara.

No. Here har is the main verb and means has.

This is not a perfect tense like har tappat. It is simply the present tense of ha:

• ha kontakt med någon = to have contact with someone
• har hon kontakt = does she have contact

So har hon fortfarande nära kontakt means she still has close contact.

Fortfarande means still.

In this clause:

• men med Sara har hon fortfarande nära kontakt

it comes after the subject hon and before nära kontakt.

That placement is very normal in Swedish. In many main clauses, adverbs like fortfarande, inte, alltid, and ofta come after the finite verb and often after the subject too, depending on the structure.

Because med Sara is fronted, the order becomes:

• med Sara
  • har
    • hon
      • fortfarande
        • nära kontakt

So the position of fortfarande is natural Swedish word order.

Nära kontakt means close contact.

• nära = close
• kontakt = contact

So:

• ha kontakt med någon = have contact with someone
• ha nära kontakt med någon = have close contact with someone

Adding nära makes the relationship sound stronger or more active.

Because the sentence uses two different common expressions:

1. tappa kontakten med någon
   = lose touch with someone

2. ha kontakt med någon / ha nära kontakt med någon
   = have contact / have close contact with someone

The first expression usually uses kontakten.
The second usually uses kontakt.

So this difference is not random; it belongs to the normal patterns of these expressions.

Because both expressions connect contact to a person using med:

• tappa kontakten med någon = lose touch with someone
• ha kontakt med någon = have contact with someone

So med is the normal preposition after these expressions when naming the person involved.

Yes, absolutely.

That version is more neutral:

• men hon har fortfarande nära kontakt med Sara

The original version:

• men med Sara har hon fortfarande nära kontakt

puts extra focus on Sara by moving med Sara to the front.

So the difference is mainly emphasis and style, not basic meaning.

Men means but.

It joins two main clauses and shows a contrast:

• she lost touch with some old friends,
• but she still has close contact with Sara.

So men signals that the second clause is different from what we might expect after the first.

Tappade is the past tense of tappa.

So:

• tappa = to lose / drop
• tappade = lost

In this sentence it refers to something that happened after the move:

• Efter flytten tappade hon kontakten ...
• After the move, she lost touch ...

This contrasts with har in the second clause, which is present tense and shows the current situation with Sara.