Preteritum – the Swedish Past Tense
Posted on 24. Jan, 2011 by Marcus Cederström in Uncategorized
We’ve learned all kinds of different tenses here at Transparent, along with different verb forms. Now it’s time to learn how to say learned. It’s time for the past tense.
Since we already know how to put a verb into the imperative, creating the past tense, or preteritum, is no problem at all. Especially with the help of a few handy rules. Keep in mind, there are exceptions, and we’ll list a few below, but in general these will act as a guide.
For imperatives that end in a vowel, we just need to add a –de.
Imperativ + -de = Preteritum
Sluta ————–> Slutade
Krama ————–> Kramade
Stanna ————–> Stannade
We actually do the exact same thing for verbs that end in (most consonants) in the imperative form as well. For example:
Imperativ + -de = Preteritum
Ring ————–> Ringde
Känn ————–> Kännde
Följ ————–> Följde
However, we do have a few that deviate slightly. If the imperative ends in a k, p, s, or t, We will add a –te instead of a –de.
Imperativ + -te = Preteritum
(-er verb som slutar i k, p, s, och t)
Tänk ————–> Tänkte
Köp ————–> Köpte
Läs ————–> Läste
Byt ————–> Bytte
And then there are our short verbs. These always tend to be a little bit different. Here we are going to add –dde. For example:
Imperativ + -dde = Preteritum
Korta verb:
Tro ————–> Trodde
Bo ————–> Bodde
Klä ————–> Klädde
And finally, our exceptions. These include our strong verbs, just like in English, some verbs in Swedish are considered strong verbs. Like the verb to drink.
Exceptions:
Starka verb och oregelbundna verb:
Skriv ————–> Skrev
Drick ————–> Drack
Var ————–> Var
Gör ————–> Gjorde
Ha ————–> Hade
With all that in mind (and there is plenty to keep in mind) good luck!
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