Swedish/Verbs

Unlike many European languages, Swedish verbs do not conjugate according to number and person.

Present Tense
Unlike in other European languages, the Swedish present tense does not conjugate according to person and number. The table below shows the present tense of vara - to be.

Regular Verbs in the Present Tense

There are two forms of conjugation for regular present tense verbs. Form 1 simply adds r to the infinitive, and form 2 removes the final a and adds er.

Note that form one is more common than form two, and some may even regard the second form as irregular. You will still be understood if you conjugate a form two verb as a form one verb (e.g. Jag hjälpar in place of Jag hjälper), although native Swedish people will still pick up on this mistake.

Past tense
Regular verbs in the past tense Like the present tense, the past tense also has two forms. When using the first form in past tense, you add a -de to the verb stem. In the second form you drop the a and add -te. However, be aware that a lot of the form 2 verbs are irregular, e.g. flyger, äter, springer (to fly, to eat, to run).

Future tense
Regular verbs in future tense In Swedish, verbs are not different in future tense. Instead, another verb is used, kommer. So to form future tense, you say   kommer att . Example: "Jag kommer att spela." Which means: "I will play."

It should be noted that in everyday speech the "att" in "Jag kommer att spela" often is dropped. Also, the "kommer" is the most normal one for future tense, but a modal verb can also be used, as in the example: "Jag ska spela". Which means: "I shall play"