Learn Swedish: Vi hinner inte reparera vägbanan till vintern. - We do not have time to repair the road surface by the winter.

When setting a deadline or talking about preparation for an upcoming season, Swedish uses till followed by the definite noun (vintern). The preposition till acts like "by" or "in time for" here. If you said i vinter, it would just mean the action happens during the upcoming winter, rather than setting a deadline before it starts.

Why is there no Swedish word for "have" or "time" in the translation?

Swedish has a dedicated verb for this exact concept: hinna. It means "to have enough time to do something" or "to make it on time". Because it functions similarly to a modal verb, it is followed directly by the infinitive reparera without needing the infinitive marker att.

What happens to the word order if we move till vintern to the start of the sentence?

If you bring the time phrase to the front for emphasis, the V2 rule forces the subject and verb to invert so the verb stays in the second position. The sentence would become: Till vintern hinner vi inte reparera vägbanan. This is a very natural way to emphasize a deadline in Swedish.

How is the compound word vägbanan constructed?