Posts tagged with "verbs"

Swedish Verbs part 3

Posted by Transparent Language 1 Comment
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.

Åka or Gå?

Posted by Transparent Language 6 Comments
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. :)

Swedish Verbs, part 2

Posted by Transparent Language 3 Comments
Sep 23 2008

A few posts back we started to discuss Swedish verbs, remember? And I told you that those verbs can be divided into two big groups: “ar” and “er”. I also mentioned that there is a third group and then promptly refused to say anything else about it.

Oh yes, that third verb group. This is the group that brings tears of definitely not joy to the eyes of Swedish learners. Why? Several reasons.

While most (almost all other) verbs have infinitive forms that end in –a, those short little guys end in whatever they like. At least it looks like that to an untrained eye. And those guys are really short. Like one syllable short. That’s the good news. The other good news is that there aren’t all that many of them. The bad news is that they’re all irregular, and sadly, you have no other choice but to memorize them all, especially since quite a few of them are very common. Like this one, for example:

  • ge = to give

“ge” is the infinitive form, and in the present tense this verb tries to masquerade as an “er” verb, clever little sod:

  • Jag ger dig pengar. = I give you money (I’m giving you money)

See what I mean? “Ge” becomes “ger” in the present tense.
Other verbs that behave as “ge” are:

  • le/ler = (to) smile
  • be/ber = (to) beg, request
  • se/ser = (to) see

Here are some other short verbs that are neither “ar” nor “er”:

  • stå = to stand
    Hon står och väntar. = She’s standing and waiting.
  • dö = to die
    Gräset dör i torkan. = The grass dies during drought.
  • bo = to live (somewhere)
    Jag bor i Sverige. = I live in Sweden.
  • få = to get, to receive
    Hon får pengar idag. = She gets money today.
  • tro = to believe, to think
    Ja, jag tror det. = Yes, I think so (reckon).
  • gå = to go
    Hur går det för dig? = How’s it going for you?
  • må = to feel (of health)
    Jag mår inte riktig bra. = I’m not feeling quite well.

Can you spot a pattern? While these are neither “ar” nor “er” verbs, turning them into their present tense forms is quite easy – just stick an “r” onto their short, little bodies. That’s the easy part. Unfortunately, that’s also the end of easy, because when it comes to their past and perfect forms, those irregular suckers you will need to memorize one by one. Let me know if you need any help!

Swedish Verbs, part 1

Posted by Transparent Language 5 Comments
Sep 12 2008

Long, long time ago, I think in one of my earliest posts, I said that Swedish verbs are easier than English. And for the most part, that is indeed true. There is no goofy “–s” in the third person singular, no irregular “to be”, the auxiliary “do” is gone altogether, and “have/has” is simply “har”. Easy peasy. For the most part.

The biggest and probably most confusing difference is that in Swedish, the infinitive form of a verb (that would be the form preceded by “to” in English, the basic form you’d find in a dictionary) is actually different from the form you would use when combined with a noun or a personal pronoun.

It works like this:

  • att jobba – to work

but

  • Jag jobbar. – I work, or – I am working.

It’s fairly easy from here on – you, he, she, we, you, they – are all followed by the same form “jobbar”.
And as you can see, there is only in present tense, which could be translated as either present simple, or present continuous (the one with the –ing form) in English. It does make things a lot less complicated, wouldn’t you say?

For many, many verbs that’s all you need to do to make their present tense forms. Just stick an –r at the end of the infinitive and your work here is done.

And quite logically, such verbs are called “ar verbs”. And they are mostly nice, regular verbs in all other tenses.

There is another group, which through some very odd coincidence, for the most part (but not always) corresponds to irregular verbs in English. You know, those that get all funky in the past tense, like buy-bought-bought, for example.

Those verbs in Swedish behave like this:

  • att köpa – to buy

but

  • Jag köper. – I buy, or – I am buying.

See? Instead of tacking “r” at the end, first you remove the “a” of the infinitive, and then add “er”. Tah-dah! Done!

Again, quite logically, these verbs are called “er verbs”. And for the most part, they are nasty, irregular little suckers in the past tense.

There is a third group of short, little guys that behave in a whole different manner, and we will talk about them next time. For now, this is what you need to remember:

  • Some verbs acquire “r” at the end of their infinitive form and become “ar” verbs in the present tense. (“AR” VERBS)
  • And some verbs, FIRST drop the “a” of their infinitive form, and THEN add the ending “er” in the present tense. (“ER” VERBS)
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