Verbs Introduction

I said I was going to do it, and here it is. The first verbs post. This will be the first in a series of posts covering verbs and how to conjugate them. I decided to break it up into multiple posts. The reason is that Swedish has four groups of verbs. So each post will cover one group, and we can digest it all in smaller, more manageable chunks.

This is the introduction. I thought that these things should be accessible to beginners and those without a lot of grammar experience. So I'm just breaking down terms. The first group of verbs will be in the next post. That should be up tomorrow, or very shortly after.

Before we start, I want to cover some general information about verbs, so we can all do this together. And keep in mind, this is what I've learned and believe to be correct. Any corrections are welcomed.

First, the verbs don't change according to people or number. This means that no matter who is doing it, or how many of them there are, the verb stays the same. Neat!

Second, there is no subjunctive case. Ok, that's not entirely true. There is a subjunctive in Swedish, but from what I've found, it's seen as archaic and therefore not used.... Except for the word vore, which is equivalent to 'would be' or 'were' in the conditional form. But even that is optional. So don't worry about it right now.

Swedish verbs do change according to tense. Again, so we can all be on the same page, I'll give a quick description of the tenses.

Infinitive: This is the form you find in the dictionary. It will usually have 'att' attached to it. It is similar to adding 'to' to an English verb.
                  Example: to dance, to walk, to cook.

Present: This is what is happening now, or what happens on a regular basis.
                Example: I dance, I walk, I cook. I am cooking.. etc.

Past Imperfect: This is quite simply anything that has already happened. In English we add 'ed' to the end.
                            Example: I walked, I cooked, I danced.

Past Perfect: This is the same as Past Imperfect, except you use a helping verb, and the main (Swedish) verb takes the Supine form. We'll get to that.
                       Example: I have danced, I have walked, I have cooked.

These are the tenses I'll be covering to get you started. Future and passive tenses will come later. Check back in a day or so for the post covering Group 1 verbs.


Do you speak Swedish? Are you familiar with Swedish grammar? Let me know how I'm doing. Leave a comment below, or email me at tillswedish[at]gmail[dot]com.