Page:A simplified grammar of the Swedish language.djvu/71

Rh The compound tenses are sometimes used instead of the future; as, jag har strax slutat, 'I shall have done immediately.'

This use of the compound instead of the simple tenses is regarded as a Germanism which should be avoided; thus the sentence Konungen i går  statsråd, would be more correctly rendered Konungen statsråd i går, 'the king held a council of state yesterday.'

The conjunctive is not much used in modern Swedish, its place being often taken by the various defective auxiliaries, which constitute a striking characteristic of the language; as, må, månne, måste, 'may;' må det gå dig väl! 'good betide thee!' månne någon gifver mig det! 'perhaps some one may give it to me!'

It is used in an optative sense in a few forms of expression; as, Gud välsigne dig, 'may God bless thee!' länge lefve konungen, 'long live the king!'

The imperative is often expressed by the help of the auxiliary få, 'to get,' 'must;'  as, du får ej gå, 'you must not go!' 'do not go!'

The auxiliary att hafva is often omitted before the past participle in compound tenses; as, sedan solen (har) gått ned, inträder mörkret, 'when the sun has gone down, darkness comes on;' shräddaren skulle sytt gossen en rock, 'the tailor should have made the boy a coat.'

The infinitive is often used in the place of a gerund; as, han läser för att lära, 'he reads for the sake of learning;' consten att måla, 'the art of painting.' Att, 'to', may be omitted before the infinitive when it constitutes the