Breakdown of Om korken inte hade förseglat flaskan, skulle vattnet ha kommit in.
inte
not
vattnet
the water
ha
to have
komma
to come
in
in, into (motion)
flaskan
the bottle
om
if, whether
skulle
would
försegla
to seal
korken
the cork
Questions & Answers about Om korken inte hade förseglat flaskan, skulle vattnet ha kommit in.
Why do we use hade förseglat and skulle ha kommit in this sentence?
This is a third conditional sentence, which expresses a hypothetical situation in the past (something that didn't actually happen). Just like in English, Swedish uses the past perfect (hade + supine) in the om (if) clause, and skulle ha + supine in the main clause. It means the cork did seal the bottle, so the water didn't come in.
Why is inte placed before the verb hade?
Because om korken inte hade förseglat flaskan is a subordinate clause. In Swedish subordinate clauses, sentence adverbs like inte must be placed before the conjugated verb. This is famously known to learners as the BIFF rule (Bisats: Inte Före Finita verbet).
Why is the word order skulle vattnet instead of vattnet skulle in the second half?
This is the classic V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire subordinate clause starting with Om... counts as the first "block" of the main sentence. To keep the verb in the second position, the main clause must start with the verb (skulle), followed immediately by the subject (vattnet).
Why do we use kommit in instead of kommit in i?
Kommer in is used here because there is no object following it. You only use in i (into) if you are directly stating the object being entered right afterward, such as skulle vattnet ha kommit in i flaskan. When the destination is already understood, just in is correct.
Since this lesson is about the relative adverb varifrån (where from), how would I use it to ask where the water would have come from?
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