To express that someone "had to" do something in the past, Swedish uses var tvungen att followed by an infinitive. It literally means "was forced to."
Subject agreement
Because tvungen functions like an adjective, it changes to agree with the subject doing the action:
- Singular en-words (jag, du, hon, bagaren): var tvungen att
- Singular ett-words (barnet): var tvunget att
- Plural subjects (vi, ni, de): var tvungna att
| The baker had to write a note. | Bagaren var tvungen att skriva en lapp. |
| We had to throw away the dough. | Vi var tvungna att slänga degen. |
| The cake was ruined, so we had to throw it away. | Kakan var förstörd, så vi var tvungna att slänga den. |
Word order
If you start a sentence with a subordinate clause, the V2 (verb-second) rule dictates that the main clause must start immediately with the verb (var).
| Because the freezer did not work, she had to clean. | Eftersom frysen inte fungerade, var hon tvungen att städa. |
To express that someone did not have to do something, use inte. Keep in mind that in a subordinate clause (like after att "that"), inte must come before the first verb (var).
| He announced that they did not have to throw away the flour. | Han meddelade att de inte var tvungna att slänga mjölet. |
| I had to write the note about the loss after the disaster. | Jag var tvungen att skriva lappen om förlusten efter katastrofen. |
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