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Kunna Conjugation

kunna means "to can, be able to" in Swedish. Present: jag / du / han / hon / hen / den / det / vi / ni / de kan. Below: all 14 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.

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).

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.

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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