Vi måste sitta kvar tills mötet är slut.

Sitta kvar is a common Swedish expression meaning stay seated, remain sitting, or more generally stay where you are in a seated position.

• sitta = sit
• kvar = remaining, left, still there

So Vi måste sitta kvar means not just We must sit, but We must stay seated / We have to remain seated.

Swedish often uses little adverbs like kvar, inne, ute, borta, and hemma to add this kind of meaning.

Måste is the present tense form of the verb måste / må in modern usage, but in practice learners usually just treat måste as the standard modal verb meaning must or have to.

Examples:

• Jag måste gå. = I must go.
• Vi måste vänta. = We have to wait.

Like English modal verbs, Swedish modal verbs are a bit special. After måste, the next verb stays in the infinitive:

• Vi måste sitta kvar not
• Vi måste sitter kvar

So måste + infinitive is the pattern.

After modal verbs like kan, ska, vill, måste, and får, Swedish normally uses the infinitive without att.

So:

• Vi måste sitta kvar = We must stay seated

Compare:

• Jag vill äta. = I want to eat.
• Hon kan simma. = She can swim.

You would not say:

• Vi måste att sitta kvar

That is incorrect.

Tills means until.

In this sentence:

• Vi måste sitta kvar tills mötet är slut. = We have to stay seated until the meeting is over.

It introduces a time clause, just like English until:

• Vänta tills jag kommer. = Wait until I come.
• Stanna här tills bussen kommer. = Stay here until the bus comes.

A longer form is tills dess att, but tills is very common and natural in everyday Swedish.

Mötet means the meeting. The ending -et is the definite article attached to the noun.

• ett möte = a meeting
• mötet = the meeting

Swedish usually adds definiteness to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the.

So:

• tills mötet är slut = until the meeting is over

This sentence is referring to a specific meeting, not just any meeting.

Är slut means is finished, is over, or has ended.

• slut is an adjective/noun-like word meaning finished/end
• är = is

So:

• mötet är slut = the meeting is over

This is a very common way to talk about something being finished:

• Filmen är slut. = The movie is over.
• Lektion är slut. / Lektionen är slut. = The lesson is over.

You could also use sluta as a verb in some contexts:

• Mötet slutar klockan tre. = The meeting ends at three.

But är slut focuses on the state of being finished, which fits very naturally after tills.

Yes, slut functions like an adjective here.

In mötet är slut, it describes the state of mötet:

• the meeting is finished/over

Compare:

• Dörren är öppen. = The door is open.
• Butiken är stängd. = The shop is closed.
• Mötet är slut. = The meeting is over.

So even though slut can feel a bit noun-like because it is related to end, in this sentence it behaves like an adjective after är.

In a subordinate clause introduced by tills, Swedish usually has normal clause order: subject + verb.

So:

• tills mötet är slut = until the meeting is over

Structure:

• tills = subordinating conjunction
• mötet = subject
• är = verb
• slut = complement

This is different from main clause word order, where Swedish often uses verb-second order.

Compare:

Main clause:

• Mötet är slut.

Subordinate clause:

• ... tills mötet är slut.

So the sentence is following normal Swedish subordinate clause word order.

Usually, no—not in this sentence.

• tills = until
• till usually means to, until/up to in other types of expressions

For a clause with a subject and verb, tills is the natural choice:

• tills mötet är slut

If you use a noun phrase instead, Swedish often uses till:

• Vi väntar till imorgon. = We’ll wait until tomorrow.
• Butiken är öppen till fem. = The shop is open until five.

So a helpful rule is:

• tills + clause
• often till + noun/time expression

Yes, depending on context, sitta kvar can suggest stay behind as well as stay seated.

Possible translations:

• We have to remain seated
• We have to stay here
• We have to stay behind until the meeting is over

The most literal idea is that you do not get up and leave. Whether it means physically staying in your seat or more generally not leaving depends on the situation.

A few natural translations are:

• We have to stay seated until the meeting is over.
• We have to remain seated until the meeting is over.
• We have to stay until the meeting is over.

Which one fits best depends on context. If the Swedish sentence emphasizes not getting up, stay seated is best. If it just means not leaving yet, stay may be enough.

It is completely normal, everyday Swedish.

Nothing in it sounds especially formal or old-fashioned:

• Vi måste = very common
• sitta kvar = very common expression
• tills = common everyday word
• mötet är slut = natural standard Swedish

So this is a sentence you could easily hear in real life, for example at school, at work, or during a presentation.