Hon brukar duka snabbt och ställa glasen på en bricka.

Brukar shows a habit or something that happens regularly. It often corresponds to English usually, tends to, or normally.

So Hon brukar ... means that this is something she typically does, not just something she is doing right now.

A useful pattern is:

• brukar + infinitive

For example:

• Jag brukar läsa på kvällen = I usually read in the evening

They are in the infinitive form because they depend on brukar.

After brukar, Swedish uses the infinitive:

• brukar duka
• brukar ställa

In this sentence, brukar applies to both verbs:

• duka
• ställa

So the structure is basically:

• Hon brukar [duka snabbt] och [ställa glasen på en bricka]

Because brukar is one of the Swedish verbs that normally takes a bare infinitive, without att.

So you say:

• Hon brukar duka
• not Hon brukar att duka

The same idea continues after och, so ställa also appears without att.

In this kind of sentence, duka usually means set the table or lay the table.

It is connected with preparing for a meal: putting out plates, cutlery, glasses, and so on.

A useful contrast:

• duka = set the table
• duka av = clear the table

So duka by itself does not usually mean washing dishes or cleaning up afterward.

Because snabbt is the adverb form, and here it describes how she does the action.

• snabb = quick, fast (adjective)
• snabbt = quickly, fast (adverb)

In the sentence, snabbt modifies the verb duka, so English would ask How does she set the table? Answer: quickly.

Compare:

• en snabb person = a quick person
• hon arbetar snabbt = she works quickly

Glasen is the definite plural form, meaning the glasses.

The noun glas is a bit tricky because its basic singular and plural forms look the same:

• ett glas = a glass
• glas = glasses
• glaset = the glass
• glasen = the glasses

So in this sentence, glasen means specific glasses, not just glasses in general.

In theory, glasögon means glasses as in eyewear, while glas usually means a drinking glass or drinking glasses.

Because the sentence says ställa glasen på en bricka, the natural meaning is definitely drinking glasses.

So here:

• glasen = the drinking glasses

En bricka means a tray, while brickan means the tray.

The indefinite form en bricka is used when the tray is being mentioned as one item of that type, not as a specifically identified tray that both speaker and listener already know.

So:

• på en bricka = on a tray
• på brickan = on the tray

If the context had already introduced a particular tray, brickan would be more likely.

Here på means on.

So på en bricka means on a tray.

That is the normal preposition because a tray is thought of as a surface you place things on.

Compare:

• på bordet = on the table
• på en tallrik = on a plate
• på en bricka = on a tray

The sentence follows normal Swedish main-clause word order.

Breakdown:

• Hon = subject
• brukar = finite verb
• duka = infinitive
• snabbt = adverb
• och = and
• ställa = second infinitive
• glasen = object
• på en bricka = prepositional phrase

A key rule in Swedish main clauses is that the finite verb usually comes in second position. Here, the finite verb is brukar, so it appears right after Hon.

Yes. In this sentence, brukar covers both actions.

So the meaning is:

• she usually sets the table quickly
• and she usually puts the glasses on a tray

Swedish often avoids repeating the same verb if it clearly applies to both parts. So you do not need to say Hon brukar duka snabbt och brukar ställa glasen ...

The shorter version is more natural.

In this sentence, snabbt is most naturally understood with duka because it comes right after duka:

• duka snabbt

If you wanted quickly to clearly apply to both actions, Swedish speakers might phrase it differently, for example by moving the adverb or repeating it.

So as written, the strongest reading is:

• she usually sets the table quickly
• and puts the glasses on a tray

Not necessarily that she does the second action quickly too.