Breakdown of De fikade på kaféet igår.
de
they
igår
yesterday
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
fika
to have coffee
kaféet
the café
Questions & Answers about De fikade på kaféet igår.
How do we form the past tense of fika here?
Fika is a Group 1 verb, which means it is completely regular. To make it past tense (preteritum), you just add -de to the infinitive form, giving us fikade. You will see this -ade ending a lot for regular verbs!
Is fikade just a direct translation of "had coffee"?
It translates to that here, but it comes from the famous Swedish concept of fika, which means to take a coffee break, usually with a sweet treat like a cinnamon bun. Swedes use it as a verb (att fika) so they don't need to say "have coffee" or "take a break" separately.
Why is there an extra "e" in kaféet?
The base word is ett kafé (a café). Because it is an ett word, you add -et to the end to mean "the café". This gives you the spelling kaféet.
Why do we use på instead of i (in) for the café?
In Swedish, you usually use på (which often means "on") when talking about being at public places, businesses, or events. So you are på kaféet (at the café), på restaurangen (at the restaurant), or på bio (at the cinema).
Wait, is De pronounced the way it looks?
No, as a quick reminder, the word de (they) is almost always pronounced "dom" in everyday spoken Swedish.
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