Questions & Answers about Klockan var exakt kvart i elva.
Why does the sentence use Klockan to mean "the time"?
In Swedish, you literally refer to "the clock" (klockan) when talking about what time it is. Just like you say Vad är klockan? (literally "What is the clock?") to ask for the time, you use klockan as the subject when stating the time.
Why is the word i used here instead of a word like till for "to"?
When telling time in Swedish, you always use the preposition i to mean "to" or "before" the hour. So, kvart i elva means "a quarter to eleven". If you wanted to say "a quarter past eleven", you would use över instead of i.
Why is there no word for "a" before kvart?
When telling the time on the clock, Swedish leaves out the article (en). While you would say en kvart to mean a duration of 15 minutes in a normal sentence, in standard time-telling expressions you just say kvart i or kvart över.
I know var means "was", but is the sentence structure exactly the same for the present tense?
Yes! To say what time it is right now, you just swap the past tense var (was) for the present tense är (is). "The time is exactly a quarter to eleven" is simply Klockan är exakt kvart i elva.