Language Trip

Conjugation › Swedish › Måste

Swedish · Verb Tables · Advanced

Måste Conjugation

måste means "to must, have to" in Swedish. Present: jag / du / han / hon / hen / den / det / vi / ni / de måste. Below: all 7 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).

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).

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).

Examples

Learn Swedish Free

Practice Måste and every other verb with flashcards and verb drills in the Language Trip app and website. Free, no account needed, no ads.

All Swedish verb tables · Basic Swedish phrases