Learn Swedish: Jag hoppades att du hade ett stilrent sidenband. - I hoped that you had a stylish silk ribbon.

In Swedish, just like in English, using the past tense (hoppades) makes a request softer and more polite. Even though you mean 'I hope you have a ribbon right now', saying Jag hoppades distances you slightly from the direct request, making it sound much less demanding than Jag hoppas.

Why does hade also have to be in the past tense? Can I say Jag hoppades att du har?

Because you started the sentence in the past tense with hoppades, Swedish grammar usually requires the following verb in the subordinate clause to match it in tense. This is called the sequence of tenses. So, even though you are talking about a present situation, hade must be used to grammatically match hoppades.

Wait, hoppades ends in an -s. Is it a passive verb?

No, it is a deponent verb. This means it naturally ends in an -s but has a completely active meaning. The dictionary form is att hoppas (to hope), and the past tense is hoppades. It looks passive, but it is just the standard, active word for 'hoped'.

How is stilrent built, and what exactly does it mean?