Breakdown of Jag borde ha läst katalogen före auktionen.
jag
I
läsa
to read
ha
to have
böra
should, ought to
före
before (preposition, + noun or time)
katalogen
the catalogue
auktionen
the auction
Questions & Answers about Jag borde ha läst katalogen före auktionen.
Why do we use the supine form läst here instead of the past tense läste?
To express an unfulfilled past obligation (something you "should have done"), Swedish uses borde ha followed by the supine form of the verb. The supine is the same form you use after har or hade. Just like in English, you say "have read" (ha läst), not "have readed/past tense" (ha läste).
Is it possible to drop the word ha in this sentence?
Yes! In both spoken and informal written Swedish, it is extremely common to drop ha after modal verbs like borde, kunde, and skulle. Saying or writing Jag borde läst katalogen sounds very natural and means exactly the same thing.
Could I use innan instead of före in this sentence?
Yes, you will often hear innan auktionen in everyday speech. However, traditionally, före is a preposition used before a noun (like auktionen), while innan is a conjunction used before a full clause (like innan auktionen började). Using före before a noun is the safest and most standard choice in formal writing.
If I want to emphasize "before the auction" by putting it at the start of the sentence, how does the word order change?
Because of the V2 rule (the finite verb must come in the second position), moving Före auktionen to the front forces the verb borde to swap places with the subject jag. The sentence becomes: Före auktionen borde jag ha läst katalogen.
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