-de/-te

Past Tense (Weak Verbs)

Level 1

Add -de or -te to the verb stem to talk about something that happened in the past.

How It Works

Weak verbs form the preterite with a dental ending containing d or t. The form is the same for all subjects.

Group 1
Keep the -a of the infinitive and add -de: tala → talade, spela → spelade, måla → målade. The result is often taught as a consonant base plus -ade. Do not remove -a and then add only -de to tal-.

Group 2
Remove the infinitive -a. After a voiced consonant, the usual ending is -de: stänga → stängde. After a voiceless consonant such as p, k or s, use -te: köpa → köpte, söka → sökte, läsa → läste. The final sound and spelling can interact: vända → vände, leda → ledde and möta → mötte. Learn the full forms rather than blindly adding letters.

Other Verb Groups
Group 3 uses -dde after its stressed vowel: bo → bodde. Strong verbs such as skriva → skrev use a different pattern, and some weak verbs have irregular stem changes. The present ending -er alone does not prove that a verb belongs to Group 2.

Meaning
The preterite places a situation in a past time frame. It can describe a completed event, a state or a repeated activity: Jag bodde där då and Vi spelade ofta kort. A specific clock time or date need not be stated.

Examples (5)

  1. Jag talade med henne igår.

    I spoke with her yesterday.

    Word by Word: I spoke with her yesterday.

    Tala belongs to Group 1. Keep tala- and add -de: talade. Equivalently, the consonant base tal- takes -ade.

  2. Hon köpte en ny jacka.

    She bought a new jacket.

    Word by Word: She bought a new jacket.

    The verb stem köp- ends in p (a voiceless consonant), so we add -te.

  3. Vi spelade kort hela natten.

    We played cards all night.

    Word by Word: We played cards whole the-night.

  4. De läste boken tillsammans.

    They read the book together.

    Word by Word: They read the-book together.

    The verb stem läs- ends in s (a voiceless consonant), so we add -te.

  5. Barnen målade fina teckningar.

    The children painted nice drawings.

    Word by Word: The-children painted fine drawings.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the wrong ending (-de instead of -te, or vice versa).

    Jag köpde en glass.
    Jag köpte en glass.

    The verb stem of köpa is köp-. Since p is a voiceless consonant, the correct past tense ending is -te, not -de.

  • Applying this rule to strong (irregular) verbs.

    Han skrivde ett mejl.
    Han skrev ett mejl.

    Skriva (to write) is a strong verb. It forms the past tense by changing its vowel (i to e) and does not use the -de ending.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-de/-teLevel 1Past Tense (Weak Verbs)

Learn This First

To learn the past tense endings -de and -te, learners first need a foundation in how Swedish verbs conjugate in general and an understanding of the concept of grammatical tense. Since these endings are primarily used for weak verbs, familiarity with the -er verb conjugation is crucial for applying the voiced/voiceless distinction correctly.

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Patterns that build on this one.