Breakdown of Jag vet att jag skulle ha tvekat om du inte hade kommit.
jag
I
du
you (singular)
inte
not
ha
to have
veta
to know (facts, information)
komma
to come
att
that
om
if, whether
skulle
would
tveka
to hesitate
Questions & Answers about Jag vet att jag skulle ha tvekat om du inte hade kommit.
How does the grammar for "would have... if... had" work in this sentence?
This sentence uses the unreal past conditional. It pairs skulle ha + a supine verb (tvekat) for the "would have" part, with om + hade + a supine verb (kommit) for the "if" part. This structure describes a hypothetical situation in the past that didn't actually happen.
Why is inte placed before hade in om du inte hade kommit?
Because om du inte hade kommit is a subordinate clause (a supporting phrase that cannot stand alone as a sentence). In Swedish subordinate clauses, sentence adverbs like inte must always come before the first verb. This is often taught as the BIFF rule. In a regular main clause, it would be du hade inte kommit.
What verb forms are tvekat and kommit?
They are the supine forms of the verbs tveka (to hesitate) and komma (to come). In Swedish, you must always use the supine form after any variation of the helper verb "to have", which in this sentence includes both ha and hade.
Do Swedes actually pronounce every word in skulle ha tvekat?
Usually not! In everyday spoken Swedish, the word ha is often reduced to a quick "a" sound. It is also extremely common, even in standard writing, to drop the ha completely and just say jag skulle tvekat. Both ways are perfectly fine to use.
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