Återbetalningen kommer före tidsfristen.

Because Swedish usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word before it.

So:

• återbetalning = refund / repayment
• återbetalningen = the refund / the repayment
• tidsfrist = deadline / time limit
• tidsfristen = the deadline

English uses two words, like the refund. Swedish often uses one word with a definite ending.

Because both återbetalning and tidsfrist are en-words (common gender nouns).

Their basic forms are:

• en återbetalning
• en tidsfrist

When they become definite singular, they take -en:

• återbetalningen
• tidsfristen

A lot of en-words work this way. If a noun is an ett-word, the definite singular is often -et instead.

The base form is återbetalning.

It is built from:

• åter- = back, again, re-
• betalning = payment

So the literal idea is payment back. In real English, that is often refund or repayment, depending on context.

Swedish often uses the present tense to talk about the future when the context makes the time clear.

So kommer literally looks like comes, but in context it can mean something like:

• comes
• is coming
• will come / will arrive

Here, före tidsfristen gives a time frame, so a future interpretation is very natural.

Swedish does not need a special future form as often as English does.

Yes, but it would change the style a little.

• Återbetalningen kommer före tidsfristen.
  Natural, simple, and very common.

• Återbetalningen kommer att ske före tidsfristen.
  More explicit and a bit more formal, because ske means take place / occur.

Usually, the shorter version is perfectly fine.

Före means before.

Here it introduces a noun phrase:

• före tidsfristen = before the deadline

So it works like a preposition.

This is the most straightforward choice when you are saying before + noun.

Sometimes, but före is the safer choice here.

A useful rule is:

• före

  • noun phrase
    före tidsfristen

• innan

  • clause
    innan tidsfristen går ut = before the deadline expires

You may hear innan used before a noun in everyday speech too, but for learners, före is the clearest and most standard option in this sentence.

It is a compound noun:

• tid = time
• frist = period of grace, limit, allowed period

Together, tidsfrist means time limit or deadline.

So:

• tidsfrist = a deadline
• tidsfristen = the deadline

Compound nouns are extremely common in Swedish, so this is a useful pattern to notice.

It follows the normal Swedish main-clause pattern:

• Återbetalningen = subject
• kommer = verb
• före tidsfristen = time expression / prepositional phrase

So the structure is:

Subject + Verb + Time expression

If you move the time expression to the front, Swedish still keeps the verb in second position:

• Före tidsfristen kommer återbetalningen.

That verb-second pattern is very important in Swedish.

Because the sentence is talking about a specific deadline, not just any deadline.

In Swedish, you use the definite form when the speaker and listener are expected to know which thing is meant.

So:

• tidsfrist = a deadline
• tidsfristen = the deadline

The same applies to återbetalningen: it means a specific refund or repayment, not just any one.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

OH-ter-beh-TAHL-ning-en KOM-mer FUR-eh TEEDS-fris-ten

A few vowel notes:

• å in Åter- is roughly like the vowel in British more
• ö in före has no exact English equivalent; it is a rounded front vowel
• i in tid is a long ee sound

This is only approximate, but it is a helpful starting point.