Learn Swedish: Grejen är att jag inte har tid. - The thing is that I do not have time.

While both words mean "the thing", en grej is slightly more colloquial and extremely common in everyday spoken Swedish. Starting a sentence with Grejen är att... is the most natural way to say "The thing is..." in casual conversation.

Why is inte placed before the verb har here? Shouldn't it be jag har inte?

The phrase att jag inte har tid is a subordinate clause (a dependent clause introduced by att). In Swedish, there is a strict rule for subordinate clauses: sentence adverbs like inte must come before the conjugated verb. Teachers often call this the BIFF rule (Bisats: Inte Före Finit verb).

What happens to the word order if I remove Grejen är att?

If you just want to say "I do not have time" as a standalone main sentence, the word order goes back to normal: Jag har inte tid. The verb har takes the second position, and inte comes directly after it.

Why isn't there an article before tid?

Just like in English, when you talk about time as a general resource (having time, needing time), it is uncountable. You use tid on its own. You would only use en tid if you were talking about a specific appointment (like a doctor's appointment) or a specific era in history.