Breakdown of I gymnasiet brukade jag dricka kaffe med min klasskamrat.
jag
I
kaffet
the coffee
i
in
dricka
to drink
min
my
med
with
bruka
to usually do
gymnasiet
the high school
klasskamraten
the classmate
Questions & Answers about I gymnasiet brukade jag dricka kaffe med min klasskamrat.
Why is there no word for 'to' after brukade like there is in English ('used to')?
In Swedish, the verb bruka (which becomes brukade in the past tense to mean 'used to') acts like a helping verb. It is always followed directly by the bare infinitive of the main verb, which is dricka here. You never use the infinitive marker att ('to') after it.
Why does the sentence say brukade jag instead of jag brukade?
Is gymnasiet a place where you work out?
No, gymnasiet means upper secondary school, which is roughly equivalent to high school. If you want to talk about a fitness center, the word is ett gym. Notice that Swedish uses the definite form here (gymnasiet, literally 'the high school'), which is standard when talking generally about attending a type of school, just like saying i skolan.
Why is it min klasskamrat and not the definite form min klasskamraten?
In Swedish, whenever you use a possessive word like min ('my'), the noun that follows it must be in its indefinite form. So it is just klasskamrat, even though you are referring to your specific classmate.
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