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.

Vara	To Be
Jag är	I am
Du är	You are
Han (Hon/Den/Det) är	He (She/It) is
Vi är	We are
Ni är	You are
De är	They are

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.

Form 1 Spela To Play Jag spelar I play Du spelar You play Han (Hon/Den/Det) spelar He (She/It) plays Vi spelar We play Ni spelar You play De spelar They play

Form 2 Hjälpa To Help Jag hjälper I help Du hjälper You help Han (Hon/Den/Det) hjälper He (She/It) helps Vi hjälper We help Ni hjälper You help De hjälper They help

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).

Form 1 Spela To Play Jag spelade I played Du spelade You played Han (Hon/Den/Det) spelade He (She/It) played Vi spelade We played Ni spelade You played De spelade They played

Form 2 Hjälpa To Help Jag hjälpte I helped Du hjälpte You helped Han (Hon/Den/Det) hjälpte He (She/It) helped Vi hjälpte We helped Ni hjälpte You helped De hjälpte They helped

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 <pronoun> kommer att <the verb's base form>.

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"