Breakdown of Ställ lådorna i ladan om ni redan har skördat!
ni
you (plural, subject)
i
in
ha
to have
lådan
the box
ställa
to put
redan
already
om
if, whether
skörda
to harvest
ladan
the barn
Questions & Answers about Ställ lådorna i ladan om ni redan har skördat!
The lesson is about using the present tense after om, but this sentence uses the present perfect har skördat. Why?
You can use the present perfect in a real conditional sentence when the condition is an action that must be fully completed before the main action takes place. The rule from the lesson still applies because the present perfect describes a present state (the state of having finished the harvest).
Why does the adverb redan come before the verb har here?
Because om ni redan har skördat is a subordinate clause (a clause that starts with a conjunction like om and cannot stand alone). In Swedish, sentence adverbs like redan, inte, and ofta must be placed before the first verb in a subordinate clause. You might remember this from earlier levels as the BIFF-rule.
Why use Ställ for 'put'? Could I use Lägg instead?
Swedish is very specific about how things are positioned. Ställa means to place something upright or resting on its natural flat base. Since boxes (lådor) usually sit flat on their bottoms, you use ställa. You would use lägga (to lay) if you were putting them down sideways or if they were flat objects.
If I flipped the sentence and started with the om clause, how would the word order change?
It would be: Om ni redan har skördat, ställ lådorna i ladan! Because the main clause is an imperative (a command), it must start with the verb ställ. In this case, the word order in the main clause looks exactly the same whether the condition comes first or second.
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