Breakdown of Konflikten eskalerade, varefter väktaren var tvungen att ringa polisen.
ringa
to call
polisen
the police officer
vara tvungen att
to have to
konflikten
the conflict
eskalera
to escalate
väktaren
the security guard
varefter
after which
Questions & Answers about Konflikten eskalerade, varefter väktaren var tvungen att ringa polisen.
Can I just use "efter det" instead of "varefter" to mean "after which"?
Not exactly in the same way. varefter is a relative adverb that links two clauses together, meaning "after which". If you use efter det (after that), you are starting a new independent clause. You would need to add a conjunction like och (and) or start a completely new sentence: Konflikten eskalerade, och efter det var väktaren...
Why is the word order "väktaren var" and not the inverted "var väktaren" after "varefter"?
Because varefter introduces a relative subordinate clause. In subordinate clauses, the subject strictly comes before the verb. You do not use the V2 (verb-second) inversion rule here, as that only applies to main clauses.
Why use "var tvungen att" instead of the past tense of "måste"?
While måste can sometimes function as its own past tense, it can be ambiguous because it looks exactly like the present tense form. To clearly express "had to" or "was forced to" in the past tense, Swedish strongly prefers using the phrase var tvungen att.
Why is "polisen" in the singular definite form here when English says "the police"?
In Swedish, polisen (referring to the police force as an institution) is treated as a singular collective noun. If you wanted to refer to multiple individual police officers arriving at the scene, you would use the plural definite form poliserna.
Learn Konflikten eskalerade, varefter väktaren var tvungen att ringa polisen and more in Swedish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free