Learn Swedish: Han sa att rutan inte blev krossad. - He said that the pane was not smashed.

Because att rutan inte blev krossad is a subordinate clause (a clause starting with att). In Swedish subordinate clauses, sentence adverbs like inte must be placed before the first verb. This is often remembered by the acronym BIFF (Bisats, Inte Före Finita verbet).

Why is blev used here for 'was' instead of var?

Using blev (the past tense of bli, meaning 'to become') creates the passive voice. It focuses on the actual event or action of the pane being smashed. If the sentence used var instead, like Han sa att rutan inte var krossad, it would simply describe the physical state of the glass, meaning 'He said that the pane was not in a broken state.'

Why does the word krossad end in -ad?

krossad is a past participle, which is a verb form used like an adjective. Just like a regular adjective, it has to agree with the noun it describes. Because rutan (the pane) is a singular en-word, the participle gets the standard -ad ending. If the noun were an ett-word like fönstret (the window), it would be krossat.

What is the difference between rutan and fönstret?