Breakdown of Om jag var rik, skulle jag ha ett stort hus.
jag
I
vara
to be
ett
a, an (neuter)
stor
big
huset
the house
ha
to have
om
if, whether
rik
rich
skulle
would
Questions & Answers about Om jag var rik, skulle jag ha ett stort hus.
Why does the sentence use the past tense var if it is talking about right now?
This is how Swedish talks about hypothetical or imaginary situations in the present. Just like in English (If I were rich), you use om followed by a verb in the simple past tense to show that the situation is not actually true right now.
Why is the word order skulle jag instead of jag skulle after the comma?
This is the famous Swedish V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire if-clause (Om jag var rik) counts as the first piece of information in the sentence. To keep the main verb in the second position, the next part must start directly with the verb skulle, followed by the subject jag.
Why is the verb ha used instead of the present tense har?
The word skulle acts as a modal verb here, meaning would. In Swedish, modal verbs are always followed by the dictionary form (the bare infinitive) of the next verb, which is ha.
As a quick refresher, why does the word stort end with a -t?
This is because hus is an ett-word (ett hus). When an adjective describes a singular ett-word, it needs to agree with it by adding a -t to the end, turning stor into stort.
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