Irregular verbs and a certain melody Posted by Tibor on Jan 20, 2010 in Grammar, Swedish Language
First of all sorry guys but WordPress and Office, seems to live two different lives. We usually say that there are 5 verb groups in Swedish and one of them are the irregular verbs ( starka/oregelbundna verb). This group must be familiar for anyone who speaks a German language. But what is the easiest way to remember a group of verbs when there are basically no rules, when it comes to verb forms in this very group? I recommend that you match all the new irregular verbs you learn to these groups.
There are several easy trics to memorize verbs. One of them is to memorize them from the left to the right in the following order:
Imperative has the same form/length sometimes as infinitive so you can always put an exclamation mark after imperative to make a difference.
Infinitive always ends with a vowel and you use the form after the modal verbs for example shall/will (ska), want (vill), can (kan) and so on.
Present form is the form that you use for now.
Imperfect=Past Simple is also known as Preteritum (in Swedish) that you use for things happend in the past/yesterday.
And last but not least you have the Present and Past/Plusquam Perfect aka. Supinum or har/hade + t-form of the verb. Present Perfect you use in cases where the action begins in the past but has a result today/in the now. For example: I have closed the window. (Jag har stängt fönstret.) Result: The window is closed now. (Fönstret är stängt). Past Perfect aka. Plusquam Perfect is the tense that is used for refering to an event that has been completed before another past action. For example : I thought, that we had made a deal. (Jag trodde, att vi hade kommit överens).
There is no grammatical logic in this group of verbs when it comes to conugation. What you can do is to put them in groups according to melody . Read out loud the forms of Present, Imperfect and Perfect!
Tenses→
Melody↓ |
Imperative! |
Infinitive (after modal verbs like: vill, ska, kan) and after att
|
Present (now/today) |
Imperfect=Preteritum (then/yesterday) |
Supinum=t-form (+har gives you Present Perfect or + hade gives you Plusquam/Past Perfect) |
i-a-u (1) |
sitt! vinn! |
sitta vinna |
sitter vinner |
satt vann |
suttit vunnit |
i-å (2) |
ligg! |
ligga |
ligger |
låg |
legat |
i-e-i (1) |
skriver! bit! |
skriva bita |
skriver biter |
skrev bet |
skrivit bitit |
y-ö-u (1) |
bryt! flyg! |
bryta flyga |
bryter flyger |
bröt flög |
brutit flugit |
u-ö-u (1) |
ljug! skjut! |
ljuga skjuta |
ljuger skjuter |
ljög skjöt |
ljugit skjutit |
a-ö-a (2) |
fall! |
falla |
faller |
föll |
fallit |
å-ö-å (2) |
håll! |
hålla |
håller |
höll |
hållit |
ä-a-u (1) |
skär! bär!
|
skära bära |
skär bär |
skar bar |
skurit burit |
ä-å-ä (2) |
ät! |
äta |
äter |
åt |
ätit |
and also….
å-ä-å (1) |
gråt! låt! |
gråta låta |
gråter låter |
grät lät |
gråtit låtit |
a-o-a (1) |
ta! dra! |
ta dra |
tar drar |
tog drog |
tagit dragit |
å-o-a (2) |
slå! |
slå |
slår |
slog |
slagit |
å-o-å (2) |
stå! |
stå |
står |
stod |
stått |
ö-o-ö (2) |
dö! |
dö |
dör |
dog |
dött |
(1)- note that there are several verbs changing like that
(2)- note that there are only one verb changing like that (or I haven´t found more)�
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Comments:
Tom:
A very useful table! Two minor typos that may confuse new students – like me! – the imperative of skriva is skriv! and the melody for ligga is i- å – e.
I really enjoy the blog – I am currently studying with SFI in Stockholm and this is a nice supplement.
thanks, tom
tibor:
Hi Tom,
Thanks. I am glad you are enjoying the blog. You are right..I either typed it wrong or it disappeared somehow. Of course Skriv! is the imperative and yes i-å-e is the melody for ligga. Good student 🙂
Have you yet tried to match other irregular verbs to this table?
vp-30 naprawa:
Great site you have got here.. It’s hard to find high quality writing like yours these days.
I truly appreciate people like you! Take care!!