Posts tagged w/ verbs

Past Participles of Regular Verbs

Posted by Anna Ikeda
May
25
2009

Last time when we talked about Swedish supines (in Swedish it’s the verb form that’s used in perfect tenses,) and past participles (in Swedish, it’s the verb form that’s used as an adjective), I picked a really tough example – “skriva” (to write).

Of course, since “skriva” is an irregular verb (just like in English), things got a bit complicated when I tried to explain what Swedish past participles are and how they are used.

But at least we got the hard bit out of the way and today you can breathe easy, because past participles of regular verbs are very straightforward. Don’t you just love regular verbs?

You see, with regular verbs, you just stick some letters to the end of the word, or add something to the verb’s basic form.

1. For example, “d” is added to longish verbs that end in “a” or to those that have a voiced consonant in the basic form, like this:

  • intressera + d → intresserad – interested
  • öka + d → ökad – increased

glömma – first you remove the ending and you get “glöm”, then you add “d”

  • glöm + d → glömd – forgotten

stänga – first you remove the ending and you get “stäng”, then you add “d”

  • stäng + d → stängd – closed

2. Ok, how about verbs that in their basic form (when you remove the ending “a”) end in a voiceless consonant, such as p, t, k, and s? To form past participles of those guys, you add “t” to the basic form:

  • köp + t → köpt – bought
  • tänk + t → tänkt – thought
  • läs + t → läst – read

Then sometimes “dd” is added to certain verbs. Those are normally verbs that end in a loooooong, stressed vowel, in other words, very short verbs such as:

  • tro + dd → trod – believed
  • klä + dd → klädd – dressed

See? That wasn’t so bad now, was it?
Unfortunately, when it comes to Swedish past participles, you have to remember that they are not like English past participles, but rather like adjectives that are used to describe nouns. It may seem complicated and difficult at first, but as one of the readers very aptly pointed out, it’s still nothing when compared with romance languages.

Still, too much grammar in one sitting is not good for anyone, so we will stop here for now. Next time we’ll tackle those irregular past participles in greater detail. Because when you look at them carefully, you’ll notice that they’re not all that irregular after all.

 
Posted under Grammar
Tagged with , , 		3 Comments | Post a Comment

Swedish Supines and Past Participles and More Grammar

Posted by Anna Ikeda
May
22
2009

You know how I always tell you that Swedish is so similar to English that learning it should be a cake-walk really?

Well, today, I will break with this long-standing tradition and instead I’m going to tell you that Swedish is not like English at all and that it can be quite hard to get it right.

I’ve never even thought about this issue, because well, frankly, it’s never even crossed my mind. Until I had to help someone deal with supines and past participles. And the trouble began.

“Wait!” I hear you say, “isn’t it, like, pretty much basic and easy in English?”
Yes it is. But it’s not so easy in Swedish. Especially for an English speaker (hence I kindly ask all native Swedes reading this blog post to please consider this fact while commenting, thank you).

You see, the English supine is the bare naked infinitive form, the kind we stick “to” in front of.
But in Swedish, the supine is the stuff we use to construct perfect tenses - as in “jag har/hade + Swedish supine.

So, it looks like the Swedish supine is what in English we’d call a past participle.

So, what’s a past participle in Swedish? Hmmm… It’s also a verb form, but it’s used as an adjective. And it also follows the same rules as all normal adjectives do.

So, let’s take a look at this:

  • skriva – to write

and in all the tenses:

  • skriver – write (present tense)
  • skrev – wrote (past tense)
  • skrivit – written (used in perfect tenses – this “skrivit” is the Swedish supine)

and

  • skriven – “written” as an adjective – this is the Swedish past participle, this form is used with “en” nouns
  • skrivet – “written” as an adjective – this form is used with “ett” nouns

and

  • skrivna – “written” as an adjective – this form is used with plural nouns.

“Ouch!” I hear you say and I don’t blame you. Maybe these very simple examples will make it clearer:

  • Någon har skrivit ett brev. – Someone has written a letter. - That’s our garden variety present perfect tense. Nothing complicated here. “Skrivit” is the Swedish supine.
  • Detta brev var skrivet på engelska. – This letter was written in English. - “Brev” is an “ett” noun and the past participle form we need to use here is “skrivet”.
  • Denna text var skriven i december 2008. – This text was written in December 2008. - “Text” is an “en” noun and the past participle form that matches it is “skriven”.
  • Alla gamla böcker var skrivna på latin. – All old books were written in Latin. - “Böcker” is a plural noun, and so we need to use the plural form of past participle, which in this case is “skrivna”.

Of course I made it difficult for you by choosing an irregular verb for these examples, so next time I’ll show you how this Swedish past participle stuff works with normal, boring, regular verbs, OK?

 
Posted under Grammar
Tagged with , , , , , , , , 		4 Comments | Post a Comment

201 Swedish Verbs

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jan
3
2009

Do you like learning about verbs? I mean, learning foreign verbs? If you’re like me, you probably love it and detest it, depending on the weather.

Someone asked me not so long ago about a good book when it comes to mastering Swedish verbs. And I think I mentioned “201 Swedish Verbs (fully conjugated in all the tenses)” but honestly, I don’t know what on earth I was thinking.

“201 Swedish Verbs (fully conjugated in all the tenses)” by Richard Auletta and Leif Sjöberg, ISBN 0-8120-0528-7

I have this book. And let me tell you, as far as verb books go, this one is well, how to put it nicely… I guess “mediocre” will have to do.

The concept is great. I’ve used books from this series (Barron’s Educational Series) for learning Spanish and French. I liked how they explained everything in excruciating detail, and how the verbs were presented in all the tenses and forms and what not. It was designed for dummies like me. It was just perfect.

But the “201 Swedish Verbs” book is far from perfect. Why? Oh, let me count the ways!

  • 1. Swedish verbs stay the same regardless of which subject pronoun you use, whether it is jag, du, han, hon, vi, ni or de, the verb form stays the same.
    Yet, all the forms with their applicable pronouns are listed on every page
  • 2. Just like in English, some Swedish verbs are irregular. But many are perfectly regular, and after you’ve seen a couple of them, you can follow the pattern in your sleep.Yet, such perfectly regular verbs as “arbeta” (to work) and “baka” (to bake) and “börja” (to begin) and many, many others are included in the book.
  • 3. Some Swedish verbs are very similar to the ones in English. So similar in fact, that you have absolutely no doubt regarding their meaning.Yet such verbs are also included in this book: “kritisera” (to criticize) and “öppna” (to open) for example. And wouldn’t you know it? It’s a regular verb, too!
  • 4. Most foreign language learners are interested mainly in irregular verbs, right? Those are the ones that give students the most trouble.
    So why not make a book chock-full of irregular verbs instead?
  • 5. The book was first published in 1975. It claims to include all the verbs which occur in the three thousand words in Swedish. Well, that might have been the case in 1975, but really, who in this day and age uses the word “to curtsy” (niga)?
    In the authors defense, it IS an irregular verb, though it’s far from a common one these days.
    The book is in a desperate need of an update, that much is clear.

Yet, if you are struggling with Swedish verbs, this might be a helpful choice.

 
Posted under Grammar
Tagged with , , 		3 Comments | Post a Comment

Swedish Verbs part 3

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Dec
5
2008

Luke from Sydney had a question about verbs. He wanted to know if all Swedish verbs end in “a” – that is something I briefly touched upon in the Swedish verbs part 2 post a while back.

So let’s review:

No, not all Swedish verbs end in “a.” Some end in other vowels. And some end in “s.” But it does indeed seem like almost all Swedish verbs have the “a” ending, simply because the great majority of them ends in “a.”

So, what are the verbs that end in other vowels? Those are those short, irregular verbs that I mentioned in the post referenced above.

Some of those verbs end in “e” – for example:

  • se – to see
  • ge – to give
  • be – to beg/request
  • le – to smile

A few end in “å” – for example:

  • gå – to go
  • må – to feel (when talking about health)
  • stå – to stand
  • få – to get/receive
  • slå – to hit/ to strike

And a few end in other vowels:

  • sy – to sew
  • bo – to live/reside
  • dö – to die
  • tro – to believe/ to think
  • bli – to become
  • klä – to dress
  • fly – to flee

But then there are also other verbs that don’t end in a vowel. Instead, they end in “s.”
These are funky little verbs that normally bring quite a lot of grief to Swedish learners. Why? Some verbs get “s” at the end to express a passive voice. But some have that “s” ending and are not passive in meaning. Such verbs that are passive in form, but active in meaning are called deponent verbs, and unfortunately Swedish is full of them.

Below are some of the most common ones:

  • hoppas – to hope
  • minnas – to remember, recall
  • andas – to breathe
  • finnas – to be (exist) – probably the most common of the bunch, You will see it in plenty of expressions, such as for example: Det finns + noun – There is + noun.
  • trivas – to feel at home, to get along

And there are many more.

So as you can see, not all Swedish verbs end in “a” even though it may seem so at first.

 
Posted under Grammar
Tagged with , , , 		1 Comment | Post a Comment

Åka or Gå?

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Oct
12
2008

Today’s topic is one that confuses many Swedish learners – those pesky verbs that are deceptively similar, have pretty much the same meaning in English, yet in Swedish are used in a completely different context. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

Actually, Swedish has quite a few such verb combinations. But today we’ll start with the one that causes the most grief when you’re learning Swedish – gå and åka.

Both of those verbs can be translated as “to go” in English and that’s the beginning of confusion. My dictionary says that:

  • Gå means: to walk, to march, to go, to travel, to depart, to pass, to sail, to run, and that’s just the first few definitions.

But then again, my dictionary says that:

  • Åka means: to go, to travel, to drive.

Not very helpful, wouldn’t you say? Fortunately, the Swedish-Swedish dictionary offers some more constructive suggestions:

  • gå (går, gick, gått) - flytta sig med hjälp av fötterna på vanligt sätt, röra sig åt något håll, lämna en plats.
  • åka (åker, åkte, åkt) - röra sig med hjälp av något, resa.

While on the surface this is a bit more helpful, I think the only way to see how it works in practice is to give you some practical examples. Which may or may not confuse you further.

So, basically åka means to move from place to place with a help of something, like for example, a car, or a bus, or a pair of skis. Take a look:

  • åka bil – to go by car
  • åka cykel – to go by bike
  • åka buss – to go by bus
  • åka skidor – to ski

When you travel someplace, you åker there, for example:

  • åka till fjällen – to go to the mountains
  • åka utomlands – to go abroad

So far so good, seems simple enough. Enter gå and things get a lot more complicated.

  • Går det här tåget till Malmö? - Does this train go to Malmö?
  • Vart går den här vägen? – Where does this road go (lead) to?
  • Hoppas att resan går bra. – Hope the trip goes well.
  • gå i skolan / gå i kyrkan = to go to school / to go to church
  • gå på bio = to go to the movies
  • ha svårt (för) att gå = to have difficulty walking (to walk)
  • Ljus går mycket snabbare än ljud. – Light travels much faster than sound.

So, basically, when it comes to people, if you schlep the old-fashioned way on foot, you går. If you jump on a train, bus or bike, you åker.

I hope this was a tiny wee bit helpful. :)

 
Posted under Grammar, Vocabulary
Tagged with , , , , 		6 Comments | Post a Comment