Breakdown of Jag ringde chefen därför att jag hade försovit mig.
jag
I
ringa
to call
ha
to have
därför att
because
chefen
the boss
försova sig
to oversleep
Questions & Answers about Jag ringde chefen därför att jag hade försovit mig.
How do we form the past perfect 'had overslept' in this sentence?
We use the past perfect to talk about an action that happened before another past action. Here, the oversleeping happened before calling the boss. You form it by using hade (had) followed by the supine form of the verb, which is försovit.
Why is the word mig at the end of the sentence?
The Swedish verb for oversleep is reflexive: att försova sig (literally to oversleep oneself). Because the subject is jag, the reflexive pronoun becomes mig. It stays right after the main verb, even in the past perfect tense.
How do I know the supine form is försovit?
If you know how to conjugate the base verb sova (to sleep), you just add the prefix för-. The supine form of sova is sovit, so the supine form of försova becomes försovit.
Can I use för instead of därför att?
Yes! In spoken Swedish, people often just use för to mean because. därför att means the exact same thing but is slightly more formal and puts a bit more emphasis on the reason.
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