Past Tense of Swedish Verbs

Creating the Past Tense

Swedish verbs can be categorized as verbs that end in ar in the present tense, verbs that end in er in the present tense, verbs that add r in the present tense, and irregular verbs. As in English, many very common Swedish verbs are irregular in the past tense. To learn more about these verbs, have a look at the lesson Irregular Verbs.

Group 1 – ar verbs

A majority of Swedish verbs are in this category. All verbs that add ar to the stem of the verb in the present tense are in this group. These verbs add ade to the stem of the verb to form the past tense. The following table shows some examples of these verbs.

Infinitive	Present Tense	Past Tense
kalla	kallar	kallade	call
tala	talar	talade	tell
spela	spelar	spelade	play
studera	studerar	studerade	study
städa	städar	städade	clean
lyssna	lyssnar	lyssnade	listen

Group 2 - Regular er verbs

The verbs in this group add er to the stem of the verb in the present tense. Note that not all verbs that end in er in the present tense are in this group. These verbs form the past tense by adding either de or te to the stem of the verb. Verbs in this group that end in k, p, s, or t add te to the end of the verb, otherwise de is added to the end of the verb. The following table shows some examples of verbs in this group.

Infinitive	Present Tense	Past Tense
stänga	stänger	stängde	close
köpa	köper	köpte	buy
behöva	behöver	behövde	need
söka	söker	sökte	search, seek
hjälpa	hjälper	hjälpte	help

Group 3 Verbs

There are only a few verbs in this group. The past tense of these verbs is created by adding dde to the end of the verb. The following table shows these verbs.

Infinitive	Present Tense	Past Tense
bo	bor	bodde	live, reside
tro	tror	trodde	believe
klä	klär	klädde	dress
nå	når	nådde	reach

Group 4 - Irregular verbs

This group contains the irregular verbs, which include strong verbs. Strong verbs form the past tense by modifying the vowel in the stem of the verb. English has these types of verbs as well. For example, the past tense of drink is drank.

The following table shows a few of these verbs. See the lesson on irregular verbs for a more complete list of these verbs.

Infinitive	Present Tense	Past Tense
äta	äter	åt	eat
dricka	dricker	drack	drink
skriva	skriver	skrev	write
ha	har	hade	have
vara	är	var	be
gå	går	gick	go
se	ser	såg	see

Examples

Hon läste en intressant bok igår.	She read an interesting book yesterday.
Jag hittade mina nycklar under soffan.	I found my keys under the sofa.
Vi reste till Stockholm förra sommaren.	We traveled to Stockholm last summer.
jag köpte en ny skjorta igår.	I bought a new shirt yesterday.
De drack kaffe i morse.	They drank coffee this morning.
Vi behövde mer tid.	We needed more time.
Jag pratade med min vän igår.	I talked with my friend yesterday.
Studerade du för provet?	Did you study for the test?
Hon arbetade hela dagen.	She worked the entire day.
Hon köpte en ny bil.	She bought a new car.
Jag läste en bok.	I read a book.
De spelade fotboll.	They played football.