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Bli Conjugation

bli means "to become" in Swedish. Present: jag / du / han / hon / hen / den / det / vi / ni / de blir. Below: all 19 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present Presens

Stem + -ar (group 1), -er (groups 2 and 4) or -r (group 3; stems that already end in -r take no ending at all: hör, kör): talar, ringer, köper, bor, skriver. One form for every person. It covers what is happening now, habits and general truths, the planned future with a time word (Vi åker i morgon), and the historic present in lively narration.

Present continuous (håller på att / sitter och) Presens (pågående: håller på att, sitter och)

Swedish has no -ing tense, so the plain present usually means 'is doing'. To stress that something is under way right now, use håller på att + infinitive, or a posture verb + och + the same form as the main verb (sitter/står/ligger/går och skriver); the posture verb tells how the person is placed or moves. The past uses höll på att / satt och + preterite, and höll på att also means 'nearly' (Jag höll på att ramla). State verbs such as bo do not take it.

Simple past Preteritum

Stem + -ade (group 1), -de or -te (group 2), -dde (group 3); strong verbs change the vowel (skriva, skrev). One form for every person. Used for completed events at a stated or understood time and for narration; with a time word that closes the period (i går, förra veckan, 1999) Swedish needs the preterite, not the perfect.

Present perfect Perfekt

har + supine (talat, ringt, köpt, bott, skrivit); always with ha, never with vara. For past events that matter now, for experience with no stated time (aldrig, redan, någon gång) and for what began in the past and still goes on (Jag har bott här i tio år). In subordinate clauses har is often dropped: Jag vet att han skrivit det.

Pluperfect Pluskvamperfekt

hade + supine. An event already finished before another moment in the past; the same form is the past tense of unreal conditions (Om jag hade vetat...). Like the perfect, hade may be dropped in a subordinate clause (Hon sa att han skrivit brevet).

Future with ska (intention) Futurum (ska + infinitiv)

ska + infinitive (formal and older skall). Intentions, plans, promises, decisions made as you speak, and orders (Du ska göra som jag säger). In the past, skulle means 'was going to'. The plain present with a time word is more common than either future auxiliary in everyday speech.

Future with kommer att (prediction) Futurum (kommer att + infinitiv)

kommer att + infinitive. A neutral prediction of what will happen, with no intention involved: weather, schedules, consequences. Do not confuse it with lär + infinitive (Det lär bli regn), which marks hearsay or an assumption ('is said to', 'is bound to').

Future perfect Futurum exaktum (kommer att ha + supinum)

kommer att ha + supine (ska ha for a promise or deadline: Jag ska ha skrivit klart före fredag): something that will be finished by a future point. Fairly formal; in speech the present with redan or the plain present perfect often replaces it (Jag är klar före fredag).

Conditional Konditionalis (skulle + infinitiv)

skulle + infinitive: a hypothetical or unlikely situation (with om + preterite in the if-part), polite requests and suggestions (Skulle du kunna hjälpa mig?), and the future in the past (Han sa att han skulle komma). In the if-part, om + preterite is standard for a counterfactual; om du skulle... is used for a remote possibility ('should').

Conditional perfect Konditionalis perfekt (skulle ha + supinum)

skulle ha + supine, with om + hade + supine in the if-part: what would have happened. It is skulle ha (infinitive of ha), never 'skulle har', although ha and har sound alike in speech. In the main clause hade + supine can replace skulle ha (Om jag hade vetat det hade jag ringt), and skulle ha also gives the future perfect in the past (Han sa att han skulle ha skrivit klart före fredag).

Past subjunctive (strong verbs, literary) Konjunktiv preteritum

Strong verbs only: the plural stem of the old preterite + -e: vore (vara), finge (få), toge (ta), gåve (ge), ginge (gå), bunde (binda). Only vore is current in ordinary writing and formal speech (Om jag vore du...); the others are literary or archaic. Weak verbs have no separate form: their preterite (talade, ringde, köpte, bodde) serves, which is why Om jag talade... is the normal unreal conditional.

Optative (måtte / må + infinitive) Optativ (måtte, må + infinitiv)

måtte + bare infinitive expresses a hope or earnest wish ('may...', 'let us hope'): Måtte det gå bra! It is ordinary spoken and written Swedish. The present må + infinitive is solemn or fixed (Må han leva!, Må så vara = so be it, Må Gud vara med dig) and is not used freely.

Imperative Imperativ

The bare stem: the infinitive minus -a for groups 2 and 4 (ring, köp, skriv), the infinitive itself for groups 1 and 3 (tala, bo). The same form is used to one person or many.

Negative imperative Imperativ (negerad)

Imperative + inte, the same word order as in a main clause. Signs and written rules often use ej and the infinitive or imperative (Rör ej, Parkera ej).

Let us (låt oss + infinitive) Hortativ (låt oss + infinitiv)

låt oss + infinitive for 'let us...'; a little formal or written. In speech, suggestions are made with Ska vi + infinitive? (Ska vi tala svenska?) or with a plain present (Nu går vi).

Infinitive Infinitiv

The dictionary form; most verbs end in -a, but verbs with a stressed vowel (bo, tro, gå, stå, se, ge, ta, dö, le) do not. It follows att (Det är svårt att tala) and stands bare after the modals (kan, vill, ska, måste, får, bör), after låta and after brukar.

Perfect infinitive Infinitiv perfekt

ha + supine. After modals, for the past: a guess (Han måste ha glömt det), a regret (Jag borde ha ringt), a report (Hon lär ha rest).

Supine Supinum

Used only after har, hade and ha (skulle ha, kan ha): -at (group 1), -t (group 2), -tt (group 3), -it (strong verbs). It never agrees with anything. Compare Jag har skrivit brevet (supine) with Brevet är skrivet (past participle, agrees).

Present participle Presensparticip

Infinitive stem + -ande (verbs in -a) or -ende (other verbs): talande, ringande, köpande, skrivande; but boende. An adjective or a noun: en talande papegoja, de boende (the residents). Unlike English -ing it never forms a progressive tense.

Examples

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