Breakdown of Du skulle inte ha förlorat matchen om du hade agerat snabbt.
du
you (singular)
snabb
fast
inte
not
ha
to have
Questions & Answers about Du skulle inte ha förlorat matchen om du hade agerat snabbt.
How do we express the 'would have' part of this sentence?
To say 'would have' done something, Swedish uses skulle ha followed by the supinum form of the main verb. Here, that's skulle ha förlorat (would have lost). This is the standard way to build the main clause for unreal past conditionals.
How does the 'if' clause show that this is a hypothetical past event?
The 'if' clause uses om plus the past perfect tense, which is hade + the supinum verb form. Here, we see om du hade agerat. Combined with skulle ha in the main clause, it tells us this is an unreal situation: you didn't act quickly, so you actually did lose the match.
Why is inte placed between skulle and ha?
Because the first part of this sentence is a main clause, the sentence adverb inte must go directly after the first, conjugated verb. Since skulle is the first verb, inte steps in right before ha.
If I wanted to start the sentence with the 'om' clause, how would the word order change?
If you put Om du hade agerat snabbt first, that entire clause counts as the first block of information. Because of the Swedish V2 rule, the verb of the main clause must come next. The main clause would then invert to: skulle du inte ha förlorat matchen.