Jag går hem tidigt för att vila.

Går is the present tense of gå (to go).

• att gå = to go
• jag går = I go / I am going

In a normal Swedish main clause, the verb must be conjugated, so you need går, not gå.

So:

• Jag går hem = I go home / I’m going home

Not always. Gå often literally means walk, but in everyday Swedish gå hem very often means go home / head home / leave for home, without focusing on the method of travel.

So Jag går hem can mean:

• I’m going home
• I’m heading home
• sometimes I’m walking home, if the context makes that clear

If you specifically want to say you are traveling by car, bus, etc., Swedish would usually use a different verb or add more context.

This is a very common Swedish distinction.

• hem = homeward, to home (movement/direction)
• hemma = at home (location)

So:

• Jag går hem = I go home
• Jag är hemma = I am at home

In your sentence, there is movement toward home, so hem is correct.

Here, hem is usually treated as an adverb of direction. It tells you where someone is going.

That is why Swedish does not need a preposition like to before it.

Compare:

• English: go home
• Swedish: gå hem

This is one of those cases where Swedish and English are actually quite similar.

Tidigt is the adverb form of tidig.

• tidig = early (adjective)
• tidigt = early (adverb)

In this sentence, it describes the verb går—it tells us when the person goes home. Because it modifies a verb, Swedish uses the adverb form:

• Jag går hem tidigt = I go home early

Compare:

• en tidig kväll = an early evening
  
  • here tidig describes a noun, so it is an adjective
• Jag kommer tidigt = I arrive early
  
  • here tidigt describes a verb, so it is an adverb

För att means in order to or to, when you are expressing purpose.

So:

• Jag går hem tidigt för att vila = I go home early to rest / in order to rest

This structure is very common in Swedish when you explain why someone does something.

Examples:

• Jag studerar för att lära mig svenska. = I study to learn Swedish.
• Hon gick ut för att köpa mjölk. = She went out to buy milk.

Usually, if you want to express purpose, för att is the normal and clear choice.

• för att vila = to rest / in order to rest

Using only att would generally not sound right in this sentence.

So a learner should normally think:

• för att + infinitive = for the purpose of doing something

Because after för att, Swedish uses the infinitive.

• vila = to rest
• vilar = rest / am resting / rests (present tense)

So:

• för att vila = to rest
• not för att vilar

This is similar to English, where we say to rest, not to rests or to resting.

Because Swedish often leaves the subject understood in infinitive phrases like this.

In Jag går hem tidigt för att vila, the person who will rest is clearly the same person as jag.

So the sentence effectively means:

• I go home early in order for me to rest

But Swedish, like English, normally does not repeat the subject there.

The sentence is built like this:

• Jag = subject
• går = finite verb
• hem = direction
• tidigt = time adverb
• för att vila = purpose phrase

So:

Jag | går | hem | tidigt | för att vila

This is a very normal Swedish sentence pattern.

Also remember that Swedish main clauses usually follow the V2 rule, which means the finite verb comes in the second position. Since Jag is first, går comes second.

Yes, sometimes. Swedish allows some flexibility, depending on style, emphasis, and context.

For example:

• Jag går hem tidigt för att vila.
• Jag går tidigt hem för att vila.

The first version is probably the most neutral and natural for many learners.

Putting tidigt earlier can slightly shift the emphasis, but both are understandable.

In this sentence, vila works fine on its own and means rest.

• Jag vill vila. = I want to rest.

Sometimes Swedish can also use vila sig in certain contexts, but for a learner, the safest and most common pattern here is simply:

• vila = rest

So för att vila is completely natural.

Yes. Swedish present tense often covers both:

• something happening now
• something that happens regularly or generally

So Jag går hem tidigt för att vila could mean:

• I’m going home early to rest
  or
• I go home early to rest

The context usually tells you which one is meant.

Not necessarily. The sentence only says:

• Jag går hem tidigt = I go home early

It does not explicitly say from where—work, school, a party, etc. The context supplies that.

So it can be used in many situations:

• leaving work early
• leaving an event early
• heading home earlier than usual

The sentence itself stays general.

Yes, that is often a very natural English translation.

Depending on context, these can all work:

• to rest
• in order to rest
• so I can rest

The Swedish structure is still för att + infinitive, but English may choose different phrasing depending on what sounds most natural.