A verb expresses an action or a state of being. Swedish verbs only conjugate for different tenses, and as such have four different forms: the infinitive form (the base form), the present tense, the past tense and the supine. The supine is the 4th form of the verb, which is used to form the present and past perfect by adding the auxiliary verb ha as follows:
infinitive titta -> supiini tittat
- present perfect: har tittat
Han har tittat på TV ganska mycket.
He has watched TV quite a lot.
- past perfect: hade tittat
Han hade tittat på TV ganska mycket.
He had watched TV quite a lot.
Swedish verbs are divided into four conjugation groups:
Group I
Most Swedish verbs belong into this group. All of them end with the letter a in their base form. The present tense ends with –ar and the past tense ends with –ade.
| infinitive | present | past | supine |
|---|---|---|---|
| titta | tittar | tittade | tittat |
| prata | pratar | pratade | pratat |
| tala | talar | talade | talat |
Group II
The present tense ends with –er and the past tense ends with either –de or –te. The ending of the past tense is –te only when the stem of the verb ends with one of the following letters: k, p, t, s, x. The stem of the verb can be revealed by removing the –er ending from the present tense form.
| infinitive | present | past | supine |
|---|---|---|---|
| stänga | stänger | stängde | stängt |
| ställa | ställer | ställde | ställt |
| söka | söker | sökte | sökt |
| läsa | läser | läste | läst |
Group III
This group consists of verbs containing only one syllable and of verbs that have been derived from verbs containing only one syllable. The present tense ending is –r and the past tense ending is –dde.
| infinitive | present | past | supine |
|---|---|---|---|
| bo | bor | bodde | bott |
| nå | når | nådde | nått |
| bero | beror | berodde | berott |
Group IV (strong and irregular verbs)
Strong verbs and irregular verbs are often placed in the same category. They have no uniform conjugation system, and so the forms have to be learned separately for each verb.
| infinitive | present | past | supine |
|---|---|---|---|
| skriva | skriver | skrev | skrivit |
| hinna | hinner | hann | hunnit |
| vilja | vill | ville | velat |
| ge | ger | gav | gett/givit |
The future tense expresses what will happen in the future. It can be expressed in the following ways:
- present tense + expression of time in the future
- ska + infinitive
- kommer att + infinitive
- tänker + infinitive
Jag ska hitta något för huvudvärken.
I’ll find something for the headache.