Hej!
Quite often I see students making mistakes when using the adverbs ”då” and ”sedan”. Both words translate to English “then”, so today I’ll to straighten out when to use which one.
Då
Då (when used as a time adverb), means ”at that time” or ”by the time”. Some Swedish synonyms are:
vid den tidpunkten
på den tiden
den gången
vid det tillfället
inte nu
dåförtiden
Here are a couple of examples:
Jag var i Sverige i juli. Då regnade det mycket.
(I was in Sweden in July. It was raining a lot then.)
Lasse fyller 50 år i februari. Då ska han ha en stor fest.
(Lasse’s 50th birthday is in February. Then he will have a big party.)
Sedan
Sedan, often pronounced, and sometimes spelled, sen (it should be pronounced “sänn”) means “therafter”, “after that” or “afterward”. Some Swedish synonyms are:
därefter
därpå
efteråt
längre fram
senare
Here are couple of examples of how to use “sedan”:
Först ska jag dammsuga. Sedan ska jag dricka kaffe.
(First I’m going to vacuum. After that (then) I will have a cup of coffee.)
När Göran kommer hem från jobbet brukar han laga middag. Sedan tittar han på TV.
(When Göran comes home from work, he usually make dinner. Then he watches TV.)
If you have questions about grammar or vocabulary, please post in the comment field!