hade

In a sentence

• Han hade en bok i sin väska.

  He had a book in his bag.

  Here, 'hade' is the past tense of 'ha', indicating possession in a previous timeframe.

• Om jag hade vetat det tidigare, skulle jag ha gjort annorlunda.

  If I had known that earlier, I would have done it differently.

  'Hade' serves as a past perfect auxiliary here, paired with a past participle to indicate a hypothetical past action.

• Vi hade redan ätit när han kom.

  We had already eaten when he arrived.

  In this example, 'hade' is again used as an auxiliary, forming the past perfect tense to describe an action completed before another past action.