Vi hade tänkt att jobba vid gräsmattan innan regnet kom, men jorden blev för våt och spaden blev kvar ute.

Hade tänkt is the past perfect, and it shows that the plan existed before another past event.

In this sentence, the timeline is:

1. We had planned to work by the lawn
2. the rain came
3. the soil got too wet

So Vi hade tänkt att jobba ... innan regnet kom means We had planned to work ... before the rain came.

If you said Vi tänkte att jobba, that would sound odd here. And Vi tänkte jobba is possible, but hade tänkt fits better because the plan was already in place before the later events in the story.

After tänka in the sense of intend/plan, Swedish often uses att + infinitive.

So:

• Vi hade tänkt att jobba = We had planned to work

In everyday Swedish, people also often drop att:

• Vi hade tänkt jobba

Both are natural. Including att can sound slightly more explicit or careful, but both versions are common.

Here it means planned or intended, not simply thought in the sense of having an opinion.

Compare:

• Jag tänker att det är sant = I think that it is true
• Jag tänker resa i morgon = I’m planning/intending to travel tomorrow
• Jag hade tänkt att jobba = I had planned to work

So in this sentence, hade tänkt is about an intention or plan.

Vid often means by, beside, or near.

So:

• vid gräsmattan = by the lawn / next to the lawn

This suggests working in the area around the lawn, not necessarily on top of it.

A learner might compare:

• vid gräsmattan = by the lawn
• på gräsmattan = on the lawn
• i gräsmattan = in the lawn/turf, which would sound different and more literal

So vid is chosen because the work was happening near that area.

Gräsmattan is the definite form: the lawn.

Swedish uses the definite form when the thing is specific or already known in the situation. In a sentence like this, the speaker probably means a particular lawn that both speaker and listener can identify.

• en gräsmatta = a lawn
• gräsmattan = the lawn

The -n at the end marks definiteness.

Innan means before, and it introduces a clause.

So:

• innan regnet kom = before the rain came

This is a normal way to describe a past event that happened later than the plan.

You can think of it as:

• innan
  • subject + verb

Here:

• subject: regnet
• verb: kom

Swedish does not need an extra word like English sometimes does. It is simply innan regnet kom.

Yes. Swedish very naturally says regnet kom.

It works much like English the rain came, although English also often says it started raining. Swedish can say that too:

• regnet kom = the rain came
• det började regna = it started to rain

In your sentence, regnet kom is short and idiomatic.

Blev is the past tense of bli, which means become.

So:

• jorden blev för våt = the soil became too wet

This emphasizes a change of state. The soil was not too wet before, but then it became too wet.

Compare:

• jorden var för våt = the soil was too wet
• jorden blev för våt = the soil got/became too wet

In this context, blev is a very natural choice because the rain caused the change.

Here för means too.

So:

• för våt = too wet
• för kall = too cold
• för dyr = too expensive

This is a very common Swedish pattern:

• för + adjective

It does not mean for in the English directional or purpose sense here.

Because jorden is a common-gender noun (en jord in grammatical gender terms, even though the word is often used as a mass noun).

Adjectives after bli/vara agree with the noun:

• common gender singular: våt
• neuter singular: vått
• plural: våta

So:

• jorden blev våt = correct
• huset blev vått = neuter example
• kläderna blev våta = plural example

Since jorden is not neuter, våt is the correct form.

Jorden is the definite form, meaning the soil/earth.

In context, the speaker means the specific soil they were dealing with, so the definite form is natural:

• jord = soil / earth
• jorden = the soil / the earth

Be aware that jorden can also mean the Earth (the planet), depending on context. Here, because of för våt, it clearly means the soil.

Blev kvar is a very common expression meaning remained, was left behind, or ended up staying somewhere.

So:

• spaden blev kvar ute = the shovel was left outside / the shovel remained outside

This does not necessarily mean someone deliberately left it there. It can simply mean that, because of what happened, it stayed there.

Other examples:

• Han blev kvar hemma = He stayed/remained at home
• Några böcker blev kvar i bilen = Some books were left in the car

The difference is similar to became/remained versus was.

• var kvar = was still there
• blev kvar = ended up being left there / remained there as a result

In this sentence, blev kvar fits well because it suggests a result of the situation: the rain came, the soil got too wet, and therefore the shovel stayed outside.

So blev kvar adds a sense of result or outcome.

Ute means outside or outdoors.

So:

• spaden blev kvar ute = the shovel was left outside

It is a very common adverb:

• Vi åt ute = We ate outside
• Barnen är ute = The children are outside

Here it tells you where the shovel remained.

The commas help separate the parts of the sentence, especially because it is fairly long:

• Vi hade tänkt att jobba vid gräsmattan innan regnet kom,
• men jorden blev för våt
• och spaden blev kvar ute

In Swedish, comma use is often a bit lighter and more flexible than in English. The comma before men is very common and helpful here, but punctuation style can vary.

So the commas are natural, but Swedish punctuation is sometimes less strict than English learners expect.

It consists of three main parts:

1. Vi hade tänkt att jobba vid gräsmattan innan regnet kom
2. men jorden blev för våt
3. och spaden blev kvar ute

The first part contains a main clause plus a time clause:

• main clause: Vi hade tänkt att jobba vid gräsmattan
• time clause: innan regnet kom

Then men joins a contrasting main clause:

• men jorden blev för våt

Then och adds another coordinated main clause:

• och spaden blev kvar ute

So it is a good example of Swedish using conjunctions to connect several clear pieces of information in one sentence.