Breakdown of Hon svarade att hon hade varit gravid.
vara
to be
hon
she
ha
to have
svara
to answer
att
that
gravid
pregnant
Questions & Answers about Hon svarade att hon hade varit gravid.
Why use hade varit instead of har varit?
In indirect speech, the tense often shifts back one step in time if the main verb is in the past. Since svarade (answered) is past tense, her original words (which likely used var or har varit) change to the past perfect: hade varit (had been).
Does the second hon refer to the same person?
Yes! In direct speech, her exact words would have started with jag (I). When we report what she said using indirect speech, the pronoun jag shifts to hon so it makes sense from our perspective as the reporters.
What happens to the word order if we add inte (not) to the second part of the sentence?
The second half of the sentence, starting with att, is a subclause. In Swedish subclauses, adverbs like inte must come right before the first verb. So if she had NOT been pregnant, it would be att hon inte hade varit gravid.
Do I always need to include att (that) in this kind of sentence?
In English, you can often drop the word 'that' and just say 'She answered she had been...'. In Swedish, you can sometimes drop att in very casual speech, but it is much more common and grammatically safer to keep it when reporting what someone said.
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