Swedish, much like English, uses two main past tenses depending on whether the timeframe of the event is still open or definitively closed. This distinction is especially important when discussing your personal history and career.
The Present Perfect: Open Timeframes
Use the present perfect (har + supinum) for actions that happened at an unspecified time in the past, or during a time period that is not yet over (like "today," "this year," or "in my life").
This tense frequently pairs with adverbs that signal an open or ongoing timeframe, such as hittills (so far), nyligen (recently), or någonsin (ever).
| She has had an interesting career so far. | Hon har haft en intressant karriär hittills. |
| Have you ever experienced such a problem at the workplace? | Har du någonsin upplevt ett sådant problem på arbetsplatsen? |
The Simple Past: Finished Events
Use the simple past (preteritum) for events that are entirely finished and occurred in a closed timeframe (like "yesterday," "last Friday," or "in 2020").
As soon as you pinpoint a specific, finished time when an action took place, you must switch to the simple past.
| No, but we experienced a difficult situation last Friday. | Nej, men vi upplevde en svår situation i fredags. |
| Last year he worked as a project manager. | I fjol arbetade han som projektledare. |
Switching Tenses in Narratives
When describing your work experience or the history of a workplace, you will frequently transition between these two tenses.
A specific past event (like being hired or resigning) uses the simple past, while the resulting state leading up to the present uses the present perfect. Note that the verb for resigning, säga upp sig, is a reflexive verb.
| He resigned yesterday, so now he has been unemployed for one day. | Han sa upp sig igår, så nu har han varit arbetslös i en dag. |
| He has had a long career, but resigned last week. | Han har haft en lång karriär, men sa upp sig förra veckan. |