Introduction to Swedish/Verb tenses

Grammar
''Swedish verbs have two inflected tenses: present and past. The other tenses are made by combining auxiliary verbs with infinite forms. Swedish verbs have five active forms.''

Verb forms: example arbeta

1st conjugation tenses: example arbeta

2nd conjugation: example bränna 3rd conjugation: example tro 4th conjugation: example finna

Verbs in the 4th conjugation inflect by vowel changes (ablauts) in the preterite and supine forms. These vowel changes vary between verbs but are partly dependent on the vowels in the stem.

Irregular verbs: example gå

Irregular verbs usually follow one conjugation, but have one or two forms out of the ordinary.

The irregular verbs har/hade and ska/skulle are used in complex verb tenses in much the same way as have/had and will/would are used in English.

har & hade

ska & skulle

Note that Swedish does not have a correlate to the English continuous/progressive forms.

Example text
Kalles väg till arbetet

Det var morgon. Kalle gick ut på gatan. Han skulle gå vägen till arbetet. Den här vägen hade han gått många gånger förut. "När jag har arbetat klart ska jag gå hem igen.", sa Kalle. "Fast då går jag nog en annan väg!"

Kalle's way to his work.

''It was morning. Kalle entered the street. He would walk the road to his work. This road he had walked many times before. "When I've finished work I will walk home again.", Kalle said. "But then I'll probably walk another route!"''

Exercises
Please translate into English:

1. De har gått en annan väg.

2. Erik och Lina gick ut på puben.

3. Det var många i parken.

4. Hon har varit duktig.

5. Jag arbetade förut.

Please translate into Swedish:

6. Per, you are lucky!

7. He has another car.

8. She is exiting now.

9. Once upon a time mummy was lucky.

10. What is the meaning of this?

../Answers to exercises/