Swedish Irregular Verbs

Learn irregular conjugations of verbs in Swedish

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Swedish Irregular Verbs

Several verbs in Swedish are considered irregular because they do not follow the rules for the different conjugations. These forms need to be memorized since these verbs are very common.

Infinitive	Imperative	Present	Past	Supine	Translation
vara	var	är	var	varit	be
ha	ha	har	hade	haft	have
komma	kom	kommer	kom	kommit	come
göra	gör	gör	gjorde	gjort	do, make
ta	ta, tag	tar	tog	tagit	take
säga	säg	säger	sa, sade	sagt	say
veta	vet	vet	visste	vetat	know
låta	låt	låter	lät	låtit	let
hålla	håll	håller	höll	hållit	hold
heta	het	heter	hette	hetat	be called
åka	åk	åker	åkte	åkt	go
resa	res	reser	reste	rest	travel
bära	bär	bär	bar	burit	carry
dra	dra, drag	drar	drog	dragit	pull, drag
ligga	ligg	ligger	låg	legat	lie (down)
lägga	lägg	lägger	la, lade	lagt	put
sätta	sätt	sätter	satte	satt	put
slå	slå	slår	slog	slagit	hit
falla	fall	faller	föll	fallit	fall
äta	ät	äter	åt	ätit	eat
sova	sov	sover	sov	sovit	sleep
stjäla	stjäl	stjäler	stal	stulit	steal
gråta	gråt	gråter	grät	gråtit	cry
sälja	sälj	säljer	sålde	sålt	sell
välja	välj	väljer	valde	valt	choose
vänja	vänj	vänjer	vande	vant	accustom
svälja	svälj	sväljer	svalde	svalt	swallow
skilja	skilj	skiljer	skilde	skilt	separate

Some -er verbs (and never -ar verbs) have irregular simple past and supine forms. Sometimes these involve a vowel change and lack of ending.

Infinitive	Past	Supine	Translations
binda	band	bundit	to bind / bound / bound
brinna	brann	brunnit	to burn / burned / burned
dricka	drack	druckit	to drink / drank / drunk
finna	fann	funnit	to find / found / found
försvinna	försvann	försvunnit	to disappear / disappeared / disappeared
hinna	hann	hunnit	to manage / managed / managed
rinna	rann	runnit	to run, flow / ran, flowed / run, flowed
sitta	satt	suttit	to sit / sat / sat
slippa	slapp	sluppit	to get out of / got out of / gotten out of
spricka	sprack	spruckit	to split / split / split
springa	sprang	sprungit	to run / ran / run
sticka	stack	stuckit	to stick / stuck / stuck
vinna	vann	vunnit	to win / won / won
bita	bet	bitit	to bite / bit / bitten
gripa	grep	gripit	to grip / gripped / gripped
lida	led	lidit	to suffer / suffered / suffered
rida	red	ridit	to ride / rode / ridden
skina	sken	skinit	to shine / shone / shone
skriva	skrev	skrivit	to write / wrote / written
slita	slet	slitit	to wear out / wore out / worn out
stiga	steg	stigit	to rise / rose / risen
tiga	teg	tigit	to be silent / was silent / been silent
vrida	vred	vridit	to turn / turned / turned
bjuda	bjöd	bjudit	to invite / invited / invited
ljuga	ljög	ljugit	to lie / lied / lied (to tell a lie)
sjunga	sjöng	sjungit	to sing / sang / sung
skjuta	sköt	skjutit	to shoot / shot / shot
bryta	bröt	brutit	to break / broke / broken
flyga	flög	flugit	to fly / flew / flown
flyta	flöt	flutit	to float / floated / floated
frysa	frös	frusit	to freeze / froze / frozen
knyta	knöt	knutit	to tie up / tied up / tied up
krypa	kröp	krupit	to crawl / crawled / crawled

A few infinitives in Swedish do not end in -a. These are short verbs and they end in a long, stressed vowel. The infinitive is the same as the imperative, and the present tense is formed by adding -r. The past tense if formed by adding -dde to the infinitive, and the supine is formed by adding -tt to the infinitive. However, a few of the short verbs have an irregular form in the past.

Infinitive / Imperative	Present Tense	Past Tense	Supine	Translation
Short verbs with a regular past:
tro	tror	trodde	trott	believe, think
ske	sker	skedde	skett	happen
nå	når	nådde	nått	reach
bo	bor	bodde	bott	live (dwell)
må	mår	mådde	mått	feel (of health)
klä	klär	klädde	klätt	dress
Short verbs with an irregular past:
få	får	fick	fått	get, receive
gå	går	gick	gått	go, walk
ge	ger	gav	gett	give
se	ser	såg	sett	see
dö	dör	dog	dött	die
stå	står	stod	stått	stand
be	ber	bad	bett	ask, pray

Swedish Phrases, Vocabulary, and Grammar with free audio