Learn Swedish: Vi hade kul på bion. - We had fun at the cinema.

hade is the simple past tense of the verb ha (to have). It means 'had'. In Swedish, verbs do not change based on who is doing the action, so whether it is 'jag', 'du', or 'vi', the past tense remains hade.

Does ha kul mean the exact same thing as 'to have fun'?

Yes! Even though kul is technically an adjective in Swedish (meaning 'fun' or 'amusing'), the phrase ha kul works exactly like the English phrase 'to have fun'. So vi hade kul is the most natural way to say 'we had fun'.

Why does the sentence use på for 'at' the cinema?

The preposition på normally means 'on', but Swedish often uses it for public venues, institutions, and events. You will see it used this way in common phrases like på bion (at the cinema), på en restaurang (at a restaurant), and på en fest (at a party).

Why is there an 'n' at the end of bion?

The base word is en bio (a cinema). Because it is an 'en' word that already ends in a vowel, you just add -n to the end to make it definite. So bio means 'a cinema' and bion means 'the cinema'.