Han lskar henne. Hon lskar honom.

He loves her. She loves him.

The most common Swedish modal auxiliaries with their inflection are listed below:
A legltalnosabb svd segdigk alakjai
Infinitive Present

Past

Supine

Meaning

skola

ska (skall) skulle

(skolat)

lesz, fog, vlik, jv id (shall, will)

kunna

kan

kunde

kunnat

tud, kpes, lehetsg (be able)

vilja

vill

ville

velat

akar, kvn (will, want to)

fr

fick

ftt

szabad, -hat, -het (may, be allowed to, must, have to)

mste

mste

kell (must, have to)

bra

br

borde

bort

kell (should, ought to9

tr

torde

is probably

mtte

lehet, lehetsges (may, must)

lr

fog ~ni (fige jv ideje) (is said to)

lt

ltit

lta

lter
.behva

let
..szksges, kell

3.4.4. Tense
General

The grammatical category tense has to do with time-relations expressed by systematic grammatical
contrasts. In the Germanic languages, the expressions for tense are either an inflectional ending on
the verb (John opened the door) or a tense auxiliary in combination with a particular non-tensed
(non-finite) verb form (John will open the door); a small group of verbs (strong verbs) do not use
endings but express tense with differnt forms of the verb (we sing every day, we sang every day; he
is happy, he was happy).
All Germanic languages express a cotrast between present (he is here), past (he was here), and
future (he will be here), usually also the perfect/pluperfect meaning is expressed (he has been
here, he had been here).
Swedish

Present tense
The present tense ends in -r: han ppnar drren, vi sjunger varje dag.
Past tense

Like the other Germanic languages, Swedish forms the past tense with a dental suffix (weak
conjugation) or a change in the stem vowel (strong conjugation): han ppnade drren he opened
door.the, vi sjng varje dag we sang every day.
Future tense
Swedish has three main ways to express the future:
a. with the present tense form (mainly verbs referring to a change of state): han ppnar drren om
en timme he opens door.the within an hour (= he will open ...)
b. with the auxiliary kommer + att + infinitive, han kommer att ppna drren om en timme he
comes to open door.the ... (= he will open...) or
c. with the modal skall + infinitive, han ska ppna drren om en timme he shall open door.the ... (=
he will open ...).
Perfect/pluperfect
The perfect/pluperfect auxiliary is always ha have, followed by a specific uninflected verb form
called the supine, which always ends in -t: han har ppnat drren he has opened door.the, vi
hade sjungit we had sung.

3.4.5. The conjugations

The many different patterns of inflection and stem variation in Swedish verbs can be reduced and
simplified to four main groups, the four conjugations: three weak (past tense with a dental suffix)
and one strong (past tense with stem variation). In the presentations below the forms given are
imperative, present tense, past tense, supine and past participle (in common gender singular).
(1)
a. First conjugation: sparka - sparkar - sparkade - sparkat - sparkad kick, rg, elbocst
b. Second conjugation: kp - kper - kpte - kpt - kpt buy, vesz, vsrol
c. Third conjugation: sy - syr - sydde - sytt - sydd sew, lt, varr
d. Fourth conjugation: finn - finner - fann - funnit - funnen find, tall, tart, tekint, vl vminek

3.4.5.1. First conjugation

Approximately 50% of the frequent Swedish verbs, and 80% of all Swedish verbs, belong to the
first conjugation, which is the only truly productive conjugation in Swedish. Its stem always
ends in -a, its present tense ending in -r, its past tense ending in -de, its supine in -t and its
past participle in -d. The infinitive is identical to the stem. In spoken Swedish, all endings except
the one in past participle, tend to be omitted. Hence when an utterance contains the verb sparka
kick it may be either imperative, sparka henne kick her!, present tense or past tense: han sparka
2

henne he kicks/ kicked her, supine, han hade sparka henne he had kicked her or infinitive, han
rkade sparka henne he happened to kick her.
The most common verbs (among the 500 most common words) of the first conjugation, according
to Alln (1972), are:
(2)
acceptera accept, elfogad,
arbeta work, dolgozik,
behandla treat, bnik, foglalkozik vkivel,
bertta tell, elmond, elmesl,
betala pay, fizet,
betrakta watch, observe, nz,
bilda form, alakt, forml,
bruka use to, hasznl, alkalmaz,
brja begin, kezd, elkezd,
diskutera discuss, megbeszl,
frga ask, krdez,
fungera function, mkdik,
frklara explain, magyarz, kifejt,
frlora lose, veszt,
handla buy, act, vsrol,
hoppa jump, (fel)ugrik
hvda uphold, maintain, assert, llt, kiemel,
intressera interest, be of interest to, rdekldik,
kalla call, hv, szlt,
klara manage, intz,
konstatera establish, prove, point out, megllapt,
kosta cost, kerl valamibe, kstl valamibe
likna resemble, compare, hasonlt,
lyckas succeed, manage, sikerl, boldogul,
lmna leave, retire, hand over, tad,
mena mean, akar,
omfatta grasp, encircle, comprise, tfog, krlvesz,
presentera present, bemutat,
rkna count, szmol,
sakna miss, hinyzik, hinyol,
samla collect, sszegyjt,
skapa create, alkot, csinl, ltrehoz, teremt,
skildra describe, relate, brzol, krlr,
stanna stay, stop, megll,
svara answer, vlaszol,
tala speak, (el)mond, beszl,
tvinga force, erltet,
utnyttja utilize, exploit, use, hasznost,
utveckla develop, fejleszt,
verka seem, ltszik, tnik (vhol vmlyennek)
visa show, mutat,
vnta wait, vr,
gna devote, ajnl, szn, szentel, odaad,
ka increase, gyarapszik, nvekszik,
ppna open, kinyit, nylik,
3

3.4.5.2. The second conjugation

The second conjugation contains verbs with stems ending in consonants; the stem is visible in the
imperative form: kp! buy, stll put. The infinitive is formed of the stem + -a. When the stem
ends in a voiceless consonant, the past tense suffix is -te, when it ends in a voiced consonent, the
past tense suffix is -de: kp-te bought but stll-de put. Verbs of the second conjugation have
the ending -er in the present tense, kper, stller, except when the stem ends in -r, in which case the
present form is identical to the stem: kr!, han kr drive!, he drives. Verbs with a stem in
consonant + -d drop this consonant in the past tense, in the supine and in the past participle: vnd vnde - vnt - vnd turn. Some verbs in this conjugation has an umlaut-vowel in imperative,
infinitive and present tense, but the corresponding non-umlaut vowel in past tense, supine and the
past participle:
(3)
a. vlj - vljer - valde - valt - vald chose, vlaszt
b. smrj - smrjer - smorde - smort - smord grease, megver
c. gr - gr - gjorde - gjort - gjord do, make, csinl
Some verbs conform broadly to the inflexion of the second conjugation, but possess one or more
irregular forms:
(4)
gld - glder - gladde - glatt - no past participle give ... pleasure, please
(ha) - har - hade - haft (no past participle have, birtokol, van vmije
mste - mste - mst must, kell
sg - sger - sa(de) - sagt - sagd say, (el)mond
(vet) - vet - visste - vetat know, tud
The most common verbs (among the 500 most common words) of the second conjugation,
according to Alln (1972), are:
(5)
anvnda use, hasznl, avgra decide, settle, behva need, szksges, bestmma determine,
settle, decide, betyda mean, jelent vmit, bygga build, bra ought to, fortstta continue, flja
follow, fra bring, handle, transport; carry, frska try, genomfra carry ... through, realize,
glla be valid, be intended for, gra do, csinl, heta be named, nevez, , hjlpa help, segt,
hnda happen, hra hear, hallgat vmit, krva demand, kpa buy, vesz, vsrol, leda guide,
conduct, leva live, lgga lay, elad, lra learn, teach, tanul, tant, lsa read, olvas, mta
meet, tallkozik, nmna mention, resa go, travel, utazik, rda advice, rra touch, move,
skilja divide, spela play, jtszik, stlla put, slja sell, elad, srskilja separate, distginguish,
stta (po) put (turn on), bekapcsol, ska search, keres, frksz, tillhra belong, tycka think,
be of the opinion that kedvel, tetszik neki, tnka think, meditate, uppleva experience, utfra
perform, utgra constitute, form, veta (- visste - vetat) know, tud, ismer, vlja elect, chose,
vnda turn, vxa grow, ga own.
4

3.4.5.3. The third conjugation

The third conjugation contains verbs with stems ending in a stressed vowel other than a. As in the
first conjugation, the infinitive is identical to the stem. Some examples with different vowels are
given in (6):
(6)
ske - sker - skedde - skett - skedd occur, happen, trtnik
bo - bo - bodde - bott - bodd live, lakik
fly - flyr - flydde - flytt - flydd flee, megszkik
n - nr - ndde - ntt - ndd reach, elr(kezik)
str - strr - strdde - strtt - strdd sprinkle, elhint, elszr
As in the second conjugation, there are some irregular verbs of the third conjugation; a handful of
these are listed in (7); irregular forms are marked with #:
(7)
(d) - dr - #dog - dtt - no past participle (the adjective dd dead is used) die
(f) - fr - #fick - ftt - no past participle get
ge - ger - #gav - gett/ #givit - #given give
g - gr - #gick - gtt - no past participle (-#gngen in compounds) walk, go
se - ser - #sg - sett - sedd se
st - str - #stod - sttt - no past participle (-stdd in compounds) stand
The most common verbs (among the 500 most common words) of the third conjugation, according
to Alln (1972), are:
(8)
anse consider, avse concern, aim at, bero depend, best consist, bo live, dra draw,
pull, f get, fresl suggest, frst understand, ge give, g walk, go, ing enter,
begin, mste must, n reach, pg be going on, continue, pst claim, se see, ske
happen, sl hit, st stand, tro believe.

3.4.5.4. The fourth conjugation

The fourth conjugation contains strong verbs with stems ending in consonants; typical for the verbs
of this class is that past tense is not formed by adding a dental suffix, but (usually) by changing the
stem vowel (ablaut); another characteristics is that the supine always ends in -it and the past
participle in -en in common gender singular, -et in neuter singular, and -na in plural:
5

(9)
bit - biter - bet - bitit - biten bite
flyg - flyger - flg - flugit - flugen fly, repl
finn - finner- fann - funnit - funnen find tall, tart, tekint, vl vminek
ta - tar - tog - tagit - tagen take, fog, vesz, visz
The infinitive is formed by adding -a to the stem flyg!, flyga fly! (to) fly.
Strong verbs are divided into groups depending on the vowel alternation series. Thus, in (9) are
illustrated the series i - e - i, y - - u, i - a - u and a - o - a. The most common series together with
some example of each are given in (10) (top of next page); all the strong verbs among the top 500 in
Alln (1972) are included in this list, except some compounded ones.