Learn Swedish: Varför har hon inte svarat?

This sentence uses the present perfect tense to describe an action that is still relevant to the present. Just like in English, you form it by using the helper verb har (has/have) followed by a special form of the main verb called the supinum, which in this case is svarat (answered).

Why does the supinum form svarat end in "-at"?

The verb svara (to answer) belongs to Group 1, which contains regular verbs that end in "-a" in their infinitive form. To create the supinum form for Group 1 verbs, you simply add a "-t" to the infinitive, giving you svarat.

Why is inte placed between hon and svarat?

This is due to the V2 rule (verb-second) combined with question structure. The question word Varför is in the first position, so the helper verb har must take the second position. In a question, the subject (hon) comes immediately after that first verb, followed by the negation inte. The main action verb (svarat) gets pushed to the end of the clause.

How can I avoid mixing up the verb svarat with the noun svaret?