Questions & Answers about Anna, hon brukade alltid skryta.
Why do we say Anna, hon instead of just Anna brukade alltid skryta?
This is called left-dislocation. By placing Anna at the very beginning outside the main sentence structure, you strongly emphasize her as the topic. The pronoun hon then steps in as the actual subject of the sentence. This structure is very common in spoken Swedish to show exactly who or what you are talking about.
Doesn't the V2 rule mean the verb brukade should come immediately after the first word?
Why does the adverb alltid come after brukade rather than before it?
In a Swedish main clause, sentence adverbs like alltid must go after the finite (conjugated) verb. Since brukade is the finite verb, alltid naturally falls into the spot right behind it, before the infinitive verb skryta.
Is brukade the standard way to express past habits?
Yes, using the past tense of bruka followed by an infinitive is the direct equivalent to the English expression used to. As a quick refresher, remember that unlike English, Swedish also uses this verb in the present tense (brukar) to mean that someone usually does something.